Mast repair options

[Elie]

My sailboat fell off its cradle and the mast was damaged. If fact, when you look at the pictures, essentially, at the lower spreaders, on starbord side, the speader caved in the mast profile, without any distorsion on the profile proper. Just one side is affected, exactly at the spreader bar hole and the area is roughly 5x2 inches. Since it is a inmast roller furler it has an inner roller furler cavity that was not affected . The simpler but most expensive solution would be to replace the mast. But I believe that this mast can be repaired by simply applying reinforcements on both sides of the mast .
The mast profil, F-980E Furling Mast From Sparcraft catalogue
Sparcraft Furling Masts . It is roughly 11x5.2 inch by 4.5 mm thick wall, of 6005.t6 aluminum. The mast lenght is 60 ft





My questions are*:
1- Is is reasonable to try to repair and save the mast, or shall I buy a new tube?;
2- What would be the rough size of these patches?
3- How and where shall I have the patches made;
4- How to attach the new patches on the profile(Rivets, glue, bolts?);
5- patches made of carbon fiber/kevlar would be a possible alternate solution(with good electric barrier to protect the aluminum)?
6- Are there other unexplored possible solutions to this problem

[gmakhs]

You should be able to weld it and back it with a plate or a sleeve to repair it , but if it fell from the cradle why not claim a new one from yours or marinas insurance??

[Shoalcove]

That looks nasty to me. I’d be calling my insurance agent. Even if you get it repaired, I’d want my insurance company’s blessing in case the repair is ineffective and you have bigger problems down the road.

[maine50]

How does a boat "fall" off a cradle/ Was it a hurricane?

[stormalong]

The only way to repair such massive damage would be to sleeve it. The best way to attach the sleeve is to drill many holes thru the mast and weld at each hole. Then weld a patch over the big hole to make it level. A good mast builder could do that.

However, If it was my mast I would be looking for a replacement. That is what insurance is for.

[Elie]

I'm a Canadian, and suing my USA marina would be a very long and uncertain process. Not counting the expenses. My own insurer may possibly pay a new mast, but I believe that it would be a complicated processand affect my standing for insurance .
Looking at the mast, it is not as bad as it looks: Part of the hole(about half) is en fact the slot required to pass the solid trough bar for the support of the spreaders.
Welding is possible I presume, but it would affect the solidity of the profile. And keep in mind that the inner molding for the in mast furled sail is not affected and that increase the strength of the mast. The mast was lifted sideway by a crane without any undue bending of problem.

[stormalong]

Your mast is tempered aluminum. The crack you see is not the full length of the crack. IMO To be safe the mast has to be cut in two at the damage and sleeved. The mast is probably sleeved elsewhere already. Most large masts are not one piece.

If this was the yard's fault I doubt your insurance company would ding you. Besides, you need a hull survey because of the fall. The boatyard should be covering this with their liability insurance.

You have insurance and it is for issues like this that you have it. Use it.

[gmakhs]

If it's marinas fault your insurance can cover you and then deal wirh their insurance , since is not your fault you should not get penalty.
Consult your insurance , I would definitely ask for a new rig , plus a survey on the boats hull to make sure there is no damage from the fall .

[Elie]

Originally Posted by stormalong

Your mast is tempered aluminum. The crack you see is not the full length of the crack. IMO To be safe the mast has to be cut in two at the damage and sleeved. The mast is probably sleeved elsewhere already. Most large masts are not one piece.

If this was the yard's fault I doubt your insurance company would ding you. Besides, you need a hull survey because of the fall. The boatyard should be covering this with their liability insurance.

You have insurance and it is for issues like this that you have it. Use it.

The crack was veryfied(fluxed) and it is limited to what we see essentially. And small holes were drilled to stop any progression of the crack. There is no other problem around this area of the mast. The idea of cutting the mast in two, is not easy, mainly because of the internal doubling for the inmast furling 'inside . My other concern about a sleeve is the fact that it will create a hard point at each end of this sleeve. My mast was not sleeved!. And the picture exagerate the look of this crack: The mas has a 11 inches section and the crack is just on one side and about 5 inches across. When the mast was raised with a sling and crane, to my surprise, it was not bending or showing any lack of strength in this area.
As for the marina responsability, I will deal later on, in friendly way with the marina owner. But now what I'M looking for is a technical maybe innovative solution to elegantly save this mast. Maybe a thick(1/4 inch epoxy/carbon fiber molding is a possible solution.

[NYSail]

If they dropped your boat why worry about their feelings? Don’t be a sucker in the deal...... I would call your insurance immediately and inform them of the situation. If you sleeve and not go through insurance and something in future happens, they may not cover you because they do not insure damaged boats...
Best of luck.

[Elie]

Remember, I'm a Canadian and we deal differently then some Americans with problem. But mostly, the real question I'm asking is technical opinion. For the legal/insurance problem its another subject.

[stormalong]

An epoxy patch will not adhere well to aluminum. It's structural integrity is compromised. Get a professional to evaluate it.

If you do not contact your insurance company now and have a problem in the future do you really expect them to be responsive?

You asked for advice and I gave you my opinion. For some reason you seem to be resistant to following good practice. This should not cost you anything but time. Not doing this correctly now may cost you many thousands later.

[model 10]

If it were an airplane, you would cut away all the damage and make a perfect plug for the hole. Then a doubler on the inside and another on the outside, rivets and maybe some 5200 like stuff.
You would probably not weld an aluminum aircraft structure because the alloys they use often crack when you weld them.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Elie

Remember, I'm a Canadian and we deal differently then some Americans with problem. But mostly, the real question I'm asking is technical opinion. For the legal/insurance problem its another subject.

I'm confused. Did the marina say they refuse to pay for the damage? Or was is not their fault?

Shouldn't have to go to court and assuming they caused it, you aren't hurting their feelings asking for them to repair it.

Being from Canada really doesn't play into it.

As mentioned, you likely need to get your insurance companies blessing anyway on the repair (or risk denial of claim if you hide it from them and it fails). Most insurance policies have a clause that you have to notify them of accidents even if you don't make a claim.

Yeah you could sleave it but seems a silly approach when you have better options.

[Seaslug Caravan]

[QUOTE=Elie;2765509]My sailboat fell off its cradle and the mast was damaged.



Elie, its fixable.

You are on the right track with the doubling plates held with metal threads.

Drilling the holes to stop further cracking is a good start.

Metal needs to be restored under the spreader compression post . If the small amount of bent metal can't be worked back into shape then cut away the minimum amount necessary before sandwiching in new metal. Most of the repair will be covered by the spreader base. You may need to shorten up the spreader a tad to allow for the plate thickness.

Don't be too concerned with the temper of the repair metal. Its such a small area and oversizing the thickness slightly will cover any weakness.

Good luck.

PS . I've worked on Alloy spars where we have cut holes big enough to get your hands through to make internal repairs and the rigs are still going strong after many years of hard racing.

Be brave, use common sense and ignore the ignorant goons.