Golden Shamrock 30 - mast corrosion

Hi all,

I just bought a 1976 golden shamrock 30. The mast has seen better days; it has already been sleeved, and has pretty bad corrosion at the step.

I’m planning to replace it, but struggling to identify the correct size and profile. Happy to use a more modern profile but want to make sure it’s correctly spec’d for boat. I traced half (see pic below), oval and approximately 165x110mm. The length measurement is accurate, but the width could be 110-120 as I just flipped over the half tracing to complete the picture… I read somewhere online that this boat came with a kemp mast, but not sure if this is correct or not. Also the mast step looks kind of odd - was this standard for Shamrock’s or a dodgy fix because the mast was cut?

Any help much appreciated in

1) identifying which mast I have,
2) which modern profile / manufacturer can I replace it with?
3) mast step is standard or because of cut mast?

thanks,

Stuart

 

Welcome to the Forum Stuart.
Can you post a (better) photo of the sleeved joint please?

Re the corrosion in way of the mast step - if this was (say) halfway up the mast I would be worried, but I would be less concerned with it being at the base of the mast.
The loads here are pretty much pure compression - and even with some corrosion happening here, there is probably still a large factor of safety before the thing collapses. You could try cleaning up this area, and see how deep the corrosion pits are. There are some epoxy fillers that are good for aluminium, and you could perhaps build up these corroded areas with the filler (you would have to use an etch primer on the aluminium first).
The above suggestions will probably look much more attractive when you find out the cost of a replacement mast - especially so if you have to ship it to Dubai from anywhere else.

 

Hi Bajansailor,

Thanks for your reply. Those two pics (#2 and 3) where it shows all the rivets (and the cut) are where I assumed it has been sleeved(?). You mean you would like a clearer / more close up of the area where the cut is visible?

I’m waiting on pricing now for a replacement, let’s see how big a shock it’s going to be . Airfreight of the mast is no problem as I can get it sent here for little / almost no cost through work.

How about the weird looking platform that the mast is sitting on - protruding up through & above the cabin sole? Looks normal, or added because the mast was shortened?

 

I just found a pic online of another Shamrock 30 with the same weird mast step - so I guess it came this way from the factory.

 

Re the two photos of the sleeved mast repair - a closer more detailed photo would be nice. However it looks like the existing repair was well done, and it has probably been in place for a long time, hence it should last a long time yet.
A more important issue might be the standing rigging - do you know when it was last replaced?
Is it rod rigging, or wire?
Re the mast foot, it might look weird, but it must be pretty effective - I would guess that there is a stub on the mast foot that goes inside the mast to stop the foot from slipping sideways.
And it should be very strong in compression. I presume that it sits on the keel?