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Old 25-06-2018, 03:23   #1
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Bent Mast. Loose New Forestay.

Trying to figure out if this mast is OK. In the Island of Porto Santo (Between Portogal and Canary Islands). No rigger within 5 days of sailing for me. Getting some help from a sailmaker and the local boatyard.
6 weeks ago my forestay came off during sailing in strong winds. The chainplate broke (where the forestay is connected to the deck). Even though the forestay wire was declared to be Ok by the local boatyard and the sailmaker, on the advice of people in this forum I went ahead and asked the sailmaker and boat repair man to replace the forestay wire.
Took time to get it from over seas. They claim they cut the wire exactly to the length of the old one, yet when we put it up there if flops down so much it looks like it could be 15 or 20cm too long, and the back stays are flopping around sitting in their old setting. The mast looks bent. They blame the mast. Thing is, the mast looks bent backwards not forward, so I am confused.
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Old 25-06-2018, 04:54   #2
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Re: Bent Mast. Loose New Forestay.

If it's too long don't worry about it Selden in Gibraltar made mine too short so we had to redo everything including the new roller .

If you provide more information about your mast type and spreaders people here will be able to help you .

A wild guess for me , take a weight and put it on the mainsail halyard , the mast must be lean backwards about 10 percent and should be bent backwards up to 20 percent of the total length.

Check if the mast is bent forward , if it's not then the chain plate should be longer or the wire , so remove it cut in the right size and try again , try to not over cut it .

Do you have photos of the broken chainplate??? I always wonder how the manage to brake
.... I am in canaries if you arive here and you need help send me a.pm .
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Old 25-06-2018, 05:57   #3
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Re: Bent Mast. Loose New Forestay.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Popeye2 View Post
Trying to figure out if this mast is OK. In the Island of Porto Santo (Between Portogal and Canary Islands). No rigger within 5 days of sailing for me. Getting some help from a sailmaker and the local boatyard.
6 weeks ago my forestay came off during sailing in strong winds. The chainplate broke (where the forestay is connected to the deck). Even though the forestay wire was declared to be Ok by the local boatyard and the sailmaker, on the advice of people in this forum I went ahead and asked the sailmaker and boat repair man to replace the forestay wire.
Took time to get it from over seas. They claim they cut the wire exactly to the length of the old one, yet when we put it up there if flops down so much it looks like it could be 15 or 20cm too long, and the back stays are flopping around sitting in their old setting. The mast looks bent. They blame the mast. Thing is, the mast looks bent backwards not forward, so I am confused.
More questions than answers...

If your mast is bent without any rigging tension on it that is likely to be bad, and not easily fixable. Pictures would help, along with the kind of boat. Is the bend gradual? Or a "kink" at the spreaders?

If the mast is bent enough, it is possible that the top of the mast is closer to the deck than it used to be, leaving the stays too long.

Did you replace the chainplate? Exactly the same as the old one? Do you have the old wire? How did the locals make the terminals for the new wire if there is no rigger around with a swaging machine?

Did you insect your OTHER chainplates for crevice corrosion? Has anybody been to the top of the mast to inspect the fittings up there?
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Old 25-06-2018, 07:45   #4
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Re: Bent Mast. Loose New Forestay.

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Originally Posted by Popeye2 View Post
Trying to figure out if this mast is OK. In the Island of Porto Santo (Between Portogal and Canary Islands). No rigger within 5 days of sailing for me. Getting some help from a sailmaker and the local boatyard.
6 weeks ago my forestay came off during sailing in strong winds. The chainplate broke (where the forestay is connected to the deck). Even though the forestay wire was declared to be Ok by the local boatyard and the sailmaker, on the advice of people in this forum I went ahead and asked the sailmaker and boat repair man to replace the forestay wire.
Took time to get it from over seas. They claim they cut the wire exactly to the length of the old one, yet when we put it up there if flops down so much it looks like it could be 15 or 20cm too long, and the back stays are flopping around sitting in their old setting. The mast looks bent. They blame the mast. Thing is, the mast looks bent backwards not forward, so I am confused.
Thanks for all that. Latest is the boat yard repair guy confesses to cutting it so it was 20Cm longer than the sail maker had told him to (from another island). Fairly confident now to ask him to cut it 20cm shorter. Enclosed a photo of the bent mast. There is not much tension on it from front or back. 1984 Colvic Liberator.
Chainplate was a bolt through the bow and it broke where that bolt enters the deck as it was touching aluminium. They made me a new bolt and I painted it and painted the hole a few times .
Other chainplates do not touch aluminium and look fine.
Been up and down the mast a few times now and things look OK above.

Heading north into the wind to Algarve.
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Old 25-06-2018, 09:31   #5
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Re: Bent Mast. Loose New Forestay.

If there is no rippling and the mainsail slides go up and down smoothly I would say the mast is OK. With a babystay, caps and no lowers I would expect to see the mast curve soothly. If you think it is too much try checking the cap shroud tension. If they are overtightened it will put in excessive mast bend.
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Old 25-06-2018, 13:20   #6
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Re: Bent Mast. Loose New Forestay.

Think Roland has it right. When you get a proper length forestay and can tighten it the mast bend should go away. Mast may have taken a slight rearward bend when forestay chain plate failed but shouldn't be a concern unless there is a visible kink in the mast extrusion.
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