Carbon Rotating Wing Mast advice

[polarhiker]

My boat is a 24' catamaran, and it has a 7m / 23ft rotating mast. The mast is aluminum, and a section dimension is 120mm x 80mm. It rotates on a ball step. Importantly, it comes apart as 3 parts with ferrule joins, each joint is 400mm long. The boat is transported often, so the ability to take the mast not only off, but also apart is important to keep.

I'm considering switching to carbon to save weight. However, most carbon mast builders I contacted would not have tooling close to my size, so would not be able to help.

So I'm evaluating my options:

- Switch to round section based on standard tubes (e.g. from Rockwest), but potentially lose performance
- Self-laminate: while I can work with composites, I suspect homebuilt solution will be risky due to laminate quality. Also building airfoil-section mast with joints seems difficult.
- Buy a used mast and retrofit - though not sure what is out there that could be of use
- Keep looking for a builder in case I overlooked someone

Any advice anyone can give for my situation?

Thank you!

 

[brian eiland]

Interested to see what you come up with.

 

[upchurchmr]

What boat do you have?
Can you show pictures?

For a 24' boat your 23' mast is very short.
Why would you ever need 8' sections?
If you transport the boat, couldn't you use a 24' mast that is no longer than the boat without any issues?

For example, a Tornado cat is 20' with a 31' mast. The mast was not the real issue.
A Hobie 16 has a 26' mast. Thousands of them went down the road.