need help with mast

i bought a hunter 31 my frist sailboat it did not have a mast when i bought it i thought it woud be a easy fix ok i found a mast the same height and weight that goes on the boat but no one told me that i need to buy a B&R mast or rigging what every u wont to call it will come to find out the mast i bought came off a 1978 pearson and not a hunter so how can i get this mast to work for me and my boat please help me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Provide a picture or at least year of your boat and lets see what we can come up with. You will definatly have to buy rigging, and most likely make a custom mast base unless you have the one from the pearson. But relax the hard part is over with a little planning you can make it work.

 

it is a 1986 hunter 31

 

Hunter didn't use the B&R rig in 1986. Those telling you so should speak what they know, rather then what they think. Your boats has split back (if memory serves me) which means it's not a B&R rig. The whole point of the B&R arrangement is to provide room for a big mainsail, so the fixed back stay is done away with. When your boat was designed the trend was big headsails, not heavy roached mains, which need the help of backstays to keep them taunt.

Installing a rig of this size, should be let to a professional. The seemingly endless number of bits and pieces, plus the standing rig requires a fair amount of expertise to do properly, let alone erect and setup.

Repairs are one thing, but you're looking at quite a job, especially if a novice at this sort of thing.

It's entirely possible the Pearson rig could be made to work for you, but you'll need the specs for your boat to make this work and the help of a designer.

 

To be fair, Hunter did claim the "B&R" rig back then, and did use the split backstay as well. In the attached photo of a 1985 Hunter 31 you will notice both the split backstay as you noted (red arrow), and also the diamond diagonals from the "B&R" rig (green arrows).

Late '70s or early '80s there were a number of IOR boats from Half tonners to Two tonners with B&R rigs and also backstays. Those boats had limited roach due to the rule. I had heard all sorts of claims about being able to use a smaller mast section (less windage) if you went to the B&R setup. I can't recall a single one of those boats that was successful.

 

I was reasonably sure the B&R didn't come to be until the 90's, my apologies.

What's the point of the extra spreader sweep, lots of extra "diamonds" if you're going to fly a convention main? I would think you have more drag from the standing windage and have a disadvantage.

I was just looking at an '86 Hunter 31 and it had no diamonds, a conventional cut main with split backs, standard IOR fair. Possibly an option back then?

 

I had the same questions as you back when they introduced that rig. As I recall, they tried to say they could have a smaller tube. However, I'm sure it wasn't significantly smaller, and with all the extra wire it probably weighted more and had more windage.

Realistically it was probably some marketeer looking to add a point of difference between that line and the other clorox bottles of the time.

Might have been an option, or maybe a replacement?


Today's rigs on sportboats pretty much do away with the backstay without all the extra rigging required for the B&R.

Back to the original question of this thread, seems to me if the replacement mast is off a P30 and has been modified to the correct spreader length and sweep it would probably be OK without all the B&R "stuff".

 

Agreed . . .

 

paul can u get me a biger pic of that hunter u showed me because that looks like the same mast that i got and can u find out were the speard r at as far the measurement were they go and how long they are

 

I don't know how you are going to use the boat and what sails you are going to fly. The only thing that looks a little "short" is the boom.
There is a "tensioner" that you can measure force and bending to see if the spreaders and mast fit your boat. Don't ask me details because I only saw it done by other people.
I would take the boat for a ride in 15 knots and test the whole thing with a rigger-sailmaker (know a few o them) or a veteran skipper-owner (know a few of them 2).
If you have access to another similar Hunter see also how the helm handles (boat people are nice if you fix stuff or help on their boats). If you see a difference of more than 10% look for things to improve. The dishonest thing would be to pose as a potential "very undecided" buyer.
I would not take advice from somebody else other than a long time Hunter owner.