help for repairing mast (i'm not +39!!!)

[jelfiser]

Hi to all
I' m a joung student and recently bought for cheap my first sailboat , a Joubert quarter ton with some damage.
i' m keeping it up this summer and i'm worried for a problem at the mast .
it's a fractional rig with a thin z230 section
under the spreader area the aluminum is totally eaten by oxide.

there are two holes on two sides about 10cm x8cm
pratically doesn't exist any structure in this area.
i' m digging about a solution cheap and fast .

i've heard that the best solution would be to cut it and put into mast a similar section,
but i don't like that idea, here is difficolt to find same aluminium section and seem to me difficolt with my experience making a nice job

so i'm evaluating two alternatives

adapting externally for a lenght of about 50 cm an aluminium plate /tube all around mast and fixing it with rivets.

cover the area with structural epoxy/fiberglass/carbon fiber with wacuum

any suggestion??


best regard

[alan white]

I would recommend the following:

Buy a single sleeve made for that section. Drill (with large enough hole saw) around each effected attachment point. Cut slightky larger round repair patches out of the sleeve. Have them tig-wekded inside. Fill the shallow area remaining with epoxy and high strength/density filler. Drill for attachments (you have a template ready measured from the original).
This would work if the damage is only around the fastener holes and where plates were mounted. I would carefully examine the rest of the mast too, and expect the worst. Look at the mast at deck level for corrosion under exit plates/blocks, and the boom connection.


Alan

[MikeJohns]

Jelfiser

Commonly stainless steel sheet is used, you can form several sections to the mast shape rivet them tightly ( you could even weld them for an easy full collar ) .
Corrosion is common under spreaders the mast shown is just such a repair, bed with polyurethane sealant but if welding you have to squeeze it in afterwards.

I hope this gives you enough of an idea.

[jelfiser]

thank you very,very much for good ideas ,yo have been very usefull to me
where the boat is , a far small isle, there is no possibility of tig-welding .
the plate of steel seems to me very feasible
there isa small exisiting steel collar that caused the damage ... i think i'll have to remove and weld the new plate the alodgment for the spreader rhight?
here some photo and a sketch of idea of repairing after your suggestion
best regard

[Frosty]

Theres many things you could do but I fear my associates are dodging the truth to be kind.

I would say that mast has done its life. If you bought the boat cheap then you should have budgeted in a mast.
Second hand ones are available and thats the way I would go.

Oh by the way think of its second hand value. A bodged up mast wont sell. Another mast is not waisting money

[jelfiser]

yes i totally agree .
this mast ended his life and since i bought this boat i've been looking for an used / simple aluminum etxrused mast . the boat came from north of france/england ... where there are many quarter ton.
here in sicily this type of ior boat have never been so diffused :impossible to find one similar used 12 mt mast
Buyng one new will be quite expensive also for transportation , (much more than how much i payed the entire boat : 2000 euro )
i'm still looking for a mast but i want to keep the boat sailing this summer !!!
thank you best regard
atached a photo of boat

[mydauphin]

If you find someone that can work Aluminum, with a Mig or Tig, they can fix that mess into something that looks good and works fine. If you where here, I could do it for $300 but you have to bring me mast....

[alan white]

Theres many things you could do but I fear my associates are dodging the truth to be kind.

I would say that mast has done its life. If you bought the boat cheap then you should have budgeted in a mast.
Second hand ones are available and thats the way I would go.

Oh by the way think of its second hand value. A bodged up mast wont sell. Another mast is not waisting money

No pictures had been posted before. You're right that the mast has some bad damage, and should be replaced.

[alan white]

yes i totally agree .
this mast ended his life and since i bought this boat i've been looking for an used / simple aluminum etxrused mast . the boat came from north of france/england ... where there are many quarter ton.
here in sicily this type of ior boat have never been so diffused :impossible to find one similar used 12 mt mast
Buyng one new will be quite expensive also for transportation , (much more than how much i payed the entire boat : 2000 euro )
i'm still looking for a mast but i want to keep the boat sailing this summer !!!
thank you best regard
atached a photo of boat

For the Summer, a piece of spruce would do, I think. If fitted nicely, long enough to bury in a foot into good aluminum both ends, and epoxied in solid with no gaps, the plates can attach to it and you can do the work yourself. And while the damage could be repaired by welding, there is the rest of the mast to consider--- what is it's condition? And what will you end up with if reselling down the road? Even if functional, you can't hide a repair cheaply.
Good luck, whatever you end up doing.

Alan

[jelfiser]

thank you to all for good opinion.
i hope the next year to change mast,
we hope this summer it won' t fall on my head !!!
i'm fiendly with fiberglassing , do you think is so absurd evaluating the possibility of building a carbon mast over pvc male mold during next winter ?
best regards

[alan white]

I think the masts made that way are baked in an oven afterwards. That's about all I know.

[thefuture]

there i a lot more that goes into a mast than around carbon fiber stick over a pvc mold. It will never bend properly and just isn't practical. Also at the price of Carbon these days it would be just as cheap to find a used aluminum mast and adapt it. In the end a decently designed aluminum mast will perform better than a carbon tube you make.