Broken mast?

[rjamaro]

Hi all,

My name is Ricardo Amaro and I am a newbie in this forum, so if I'm doing something wrong posting this post kindly let me know.

I am from Portugal and I have a small 25 feet sail boat that I intend to sell and by an old nicholson 35 at sits next to my boat in the marina. I don't know the owner so I didn't got the chance to speak with him about this, but I also know that in Portugal most of the people uses boats don't give them to much attention and when they want to sell it they sell it with the price of a like new boat and don't want to enter in big discounts based on the general state of the boat.

In the other day taking a sharp look to the mast I noted that there was some rivets at the middle of the mast near the mast shrouds (i believe that is the way to say it) as you can see by the attached images.

I have some question to make to you guys that have much more experience than myself on this topics. The questions are the following:
1 - was the mast broken and that is a way to patch the mast? If not it is normal to have mast such that?
2 - Is it safe to sail with the mast in those conditions?
3- Should a new mast be bought?
4- Do you have a base price how much a new mast will cost for a Nic 35?

Thank you in advance for your cooperation. All the help will be happily received.

Fair winds and calm seas,
Ricardo Amaro

[neilpride]

Yes, there is a sleeve above the spreaders riveted an a piece of a section to compensate from the portion damaged probably to reach the OEM dimensions..
Not a good way when they use the small spar section, since sleeves join just the upper and lower mast sections but if the mast is straight I guess live with it and don't worry to much ....

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Ricardo.

[Sailmonkey]

Some larger masts are built this way new. Yves Gelinas completed a solo circumnavigation with a mast repaired with the same type of splice. Done properly it's just fine.


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[JPA Cate]

Done properly it's just fine.

Aye, that's the rub. We can't tell from looking at the outside if the inside was sleeved, too...

Hi, Ricardo, welcome to CF.

We had our boom break, and it was fixed with both an internal and external sleeve. It is stronger than new, now, and we are not worried about it at all.

Perhaps if you can find out if that is original? or, if it has been repaired, how the repair was made, and what caused the failure. If the boat is not used much, perhaps the owner doesn't trust the fix. I kind of doubt it, our mast iwas made in sections, and is doubled, but the area where it is joined covers quite a larger area, unlike the small patch on the exterior of the mast in the photographs.

I apologize for the non-definitive answer, but I am a conservative old witch; neil pride may well have the right of this; he has more experience with rigs than i do.

Ann

On edit:

The questions are the following:
1 - was the mast broken and that is a way to patch the mast? Possibly, a broken cap shroud could have caused it. If not it is normal to have mast such that?
2 - Is it safe to sail with the mast in those conditions? I am not sure it is.
3- Should a new mast be bought? Possibly, or re-repaired, better.
4- Do you have a base price how much a new mast will cost for a Nic 35? It would be best to enquire that of a local rigger. Sometimes they have partial mast sections in storage that can be brought into play for a repair after they figure out you are not going to buy a new one from them.

[roverhi]

It is quite common to splice two pieces of mast extrusion together with an internal sleeve.
Often done with masts that are longer than 40' so they will fit in a 40' container. In this case, could be a repair though a broken cap shroud the mast will bend at the spreaders. In this case, the splice is above the spreaders so may have been built that way. If you have questions about the quality of the splice, get an expert rigger to have a look at it. It is probably fine but worth paying the money to get a professionals opinion.

[skipmac]

I can't tell from the photo if the sleeve is external and/or internal. However it is correct that many new masts are made in sections and use an internal sleeve to achieve the total length. Done correctly a sectioned mast is just as strong as a one piece mast.

[hellosailor]

Ricardo-
In the US, there is generally a 40 foot overall length limit for freight shipments, either by truck or in a cargo cube. So if you are a boat builder, or a repair yard, and you need to install a mast that is more than 40' long, you can either pay a small fortune to get it shipped to you (unless the manufacturer is next door) or else you have it cut in two, and then you sleeve it (splice it) together at installation.
You would have to check with the manufacturer's specifications to see if this is original or a later repair. The owner or broker may or may not actually know.