Shorten the mast??

[captain_dave]

Fellow sailors, I'd appreciate your thoughts on our conundrum.
We own a Moody 46, circa 1999, with in-mast furling main, rigged for long distance cruising, and we love her. Mast height is 63.5 ft to the plate, which means going down the ICW is frightful. Lowest bridge is 64 ft. (We rigged salvage bags out on the boom and heeled under. A real pain.) Going outside is always a hazardous option, but I'd like to have flexibility of doing the ICW during bad weather.
Choices: (1) sell her and acquire something shorter. Transaction costs would be in excess of $30K. (2) shorten the mast by 1.5 ft. That will cost about $10-15K, including all new standing rigging, which is 20 years old any way. How big a performance hit might there be?
Your astute opinions are welcome. DT

[billknny]

Wow....

That's some radical surgery just to keep a boat that I thought was a good blue water sailor out of the ocean. I'd say the estimate of 10-15K is low. And you would destroy the resale value of your boat.

Really, the ocean is not a "hazardous option" You say you are rigged as a "long distance cruiser," what long distances do you actually cruise if you don't sail in the ocean?

Maybe what you really need is a trawler?

But, ultimately it is your boat. I am sure you will get people on here who are horrified you'd consider such a thing (like me) and others who will tell you it is a great idea. You will get validation for whatever decision you make. And you will still have to make it for yourself.

[Suijin]

You won’t see a huge performance hit. It will take a bit more wind to fully power up the rig but you’ll reef a bit later.

Where do you sail if you don’t sail out in the ocean such that you’re concerned about performance? There’s not a lot of sailable water along the ICW...basically the Chesapeake, Pamlico Sound, and Delaware Bay.

[JPA Cate]

Some of the sweetest sailing you'll ever have is sailing in light airs, ghosting along. What you propose will most effect light air sailing. While all the crab crushers and impatient people are motoring or motorsailing, there you are gliding towards somewhere you like in peace and quiet..... Do you really want to give up that ability? as well as affect your re-sale value? Only you can say, like billknny wrote.

[Jim Cate]

1.5 feet off t he mast is going to require a new mainsail too. It will still have the same foot dimension, just less luff length. So, the loss of sail area will be somewhat less than the first reef with your standard rig... perhaps less than half the loss.

So, you can simulate the change by sailing with your first reef in all the time. See if you can stand the performance loss. If so... then why not?

The worry about resale is kinda specious IMO. There are lots of folks who traverse the ICW, and for them, it would be an added value, just likeit is for you.

I'd hate to loose the light air performance myself, but it may not matter to you.

Jim

[Boatguy30]

I shortened the furling mast on a 43' cat earlier this year for same reason. Sailmaker was able to cut down the sail with no problem. We only took 13" off but owner later told me we should have done 18" which I'd recommended. He broke the Windex on the bridge just N of Vero Beach

Also depends a bit on type of mast and furler. This was a Zspar which was fairly easy to do.

Happy to accommodate you here in St Augustine.

Jeff Goff

[captain_dave]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

I shortened the furling mast on a 43' cat earlier this year for same reason. Sailmaker was able to cut down the sail with no problem. We only took 13" off but owner later told me we should have done 18" which I'd recommended. He broke the Windex on the bridge just N of Vero Beach

Also depends a bit on type of mast and furler. This was a Zspar which was fairly easy to do.

Happy to accommodate you here in St Augustine.

Jeff Goff

Thank you so much, Jeff! We have a Selden in-mast furler. How difficult is moving the spindle bearing at the top? Is $10-15K about right price-wise? Including new standing rigging?

[Boatguy30]

As long as the mast cap isn't welded, it should be about the 15k with the crane fees.

[Ericson38]

With 16 foot for the main (E dimension), removing 1.5 ft of the base of the triangle is about 23 sq feet of sail, which is about 5-6% of a 440 sq foot mainsail. This is not 1st reef territory. For this, you could leave the luff and leach alone, and just cut up from the bottom, as it would be a lot less rework.

Or, to maximize your remaining main sail area, lob it off the top if the current sail by coming up with a leach that intersects the luff 1.5 foot down below where the current head is.

[NYSail]

A bit off topic but how do you fare with your 6.75 draft (not accounting for load) on the ICW??

Greg