400: Cutting Mast / Sail to ICW friendly height

[pondering65]

Under consideration is the purchase of a Lagoon 400. Who out there has cut their Mast from 66'7" to an ICW friendly height? If so can you share with me to what height you cut it to? Appromiate costs ? Where you had it done at? I look to be acquiring a Lagoon in the BVI area, so this along with several other upgrades will be in order, but first I must cut mast/sail to get it into a less hurricane risk location along the ICW so any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Heads up and fair warning, if this deal goes through I be asking a lot more questions..

Thank you

[Telstarr]

I assume you have already considered the L380 (which I understand is ICW friendly from stock) and rejected it?

If you cut the mast down on the L400 you are going to loose a lot of sailing performance and probably adversely effect re-sale in the eyes of most future buyers.

[puffcard]

Call Lagoon, bet you are the first to cross this bridge...I mean go under that bridge.

[Telstarr]

Originally Posted by puffcard

Call Lagoon, bet you are the first to cross this bridge...I mean go under that bridge.

Other than to say "Don't do it" i doubt if Lagoon will want to enter into any further discussion on the matter.

[Cotemar]

Should not be a problem to cut the mast down to 63 feet, as its a Fractional Rig.

Lagoon will not be much help.

Contact the company that makes the mast as they most likely have made ICW masts already.

An ICW mast would loose very little performance as there is not much sail area at the top of the mast.

A Catamaran with an ICW mast will be worth more money on the USA East coast.
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[Bean Counter]

A thought. Cut the mast to less than 65ft but above the top shroud connectors. See if there is a sleeve that could be inserted for riveting the top section back on when you decide you want the taller mast back (this would add a little weight up top but should not affect Lagoon performance too much)). Use the existing main sail with one reef in it. There are plenty of sleeve joined masts around, then no need to cut the sail.

Something I wondered some of the time about ICW rigs would be to have a gaff rigged mast, you could lower the gaff to get under the bridges, might not look so pretty.

[hellosailor]

"A Catamaran with an ICW mast will be worth more money on the USA East coast."
So Lagoon are...too stupid? to know that and offer to sell them that way?

Marketing is always a mystery, but the OP risks the cost of a new mast and sails at resale time, if Lagoon has not missed that market.

[Bean Counter]

ICW masts are an option even on the L450.

[LeeV]

Originally Posted by Cotemar

Should not be a problem to cut the mast down to 63 feet, as its a Fractional Rig.

Lagoon will not be much help.

Contact the company that makes the mast as they most likely have made ICW masts already.

An ICW mast would loose very little performance as there is not much sail area at the top of the mast.

A Catamaran with an ICW mast will be worth more money on the USA East coast.
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Mark,

Did you get your Helia with the ICW mast? I'm wondering how much a 4.8% reduction translates to performance.

[danielamartindm]

Personally, I would look for a cat that is already ICW friendly. Lagoon won't be much help because of liability issues, and that should tell you something. Lagoons are not speedsters to begin with, and a reduction of mainsail area will not only impact speed, but balance relative to the foresail as well. And unless you plan on smaller headsails and moving the head of them further down on the cut mast, you'll be converting a fractional rig into a masthead one. Why not buy a boat that better fits your mission statement? Lagoon offers 400's with ICW-friendly masts, don't they?

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by LeeV

Mark,

Did you get your Helia with the ICW mast? I'm wondering how much a 4.8% reduction translates to performance.

Yes, we have the 63 foot ICW mast.

It was important to us as we will be going up and down the USA east coast every 6 months.
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[Adelie]

Originally Posted by Cotemar

Should not be a problem to cut the mast down to 63 feet, as its a Fractional Rig.



Lagoon will not be much help.



Contact the company that makes the mast as they most likely have made ICW masts already.



An ICW mast would loose very little performance as there is not much sail area at the top of the mast.



A Catamaran with an ICW mast will be worth more money on the USA East coast.

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When you cut down a mast, you don't just lose area at the top, you lose it along the leech as well since the boom stays the same length.

If you cut 2' off the mast the net area lost approximates cutting a 2' strip off the bottom of the sail.

If you increase the head length for squaretop that would compensate significantly but that would involve further design expense for the sail as well as the mast.

[mjuneau]

Hi I don't really know anything about sailing I read these because I would love to buy a boat, I'm just not ready now.


But what I do know is positives and negatives

The way I read this the original poster is asking about cutting the mast so he can go into the icw.

And the way I understand it is having less sail area would only affect light wind conditions, because in high wind conditions you have to Reef the sales anyway correct?

So in light winds don't people generally use extra sales like a code 0 or a parasail?
The positive is he can go down the icw which is what he wants to do.

The positive is he gets to use the boat where he wants to use it, negative is he loses a little performance in light wind conditions.


Maybe there's more to it.

[R2boat]

Let's not forget the entire hurricane thing, being able to move inshore is a BIG plus

[arsenelupiga]

I often sail with first reef in main even in sub 10 kn, and difference in speed comparing to full sail is minimal for any sailing angle.

Looks like shortening mast will cut less than 12m2 of mainsail, which is first reef reduction, so difference in performance even less.

I say performance loss wise, no worries.