Are there any rules on when to replace a mast

[TheLastPirate]

Has anyone heard of any rules as to when to change a mast. Mine is nearly 50 years old, has extra holes, quarter size dent.The plan is to raise the boom for standing headroom which will leave more holes. I'm refitting the boat and just wondering if I should replace the mast as well. It will be for offshore.
It seems every other piece of metal that takes a load on a boat eventually gets replaced.
I wonder about the loads over 50 years, do they weaken the mast? Or do the mastheads get replaced? I know you are able to change sheaves but does the metal fatigue enough to change it after half a century?

Thanks

[hedgeworth]

Originally Posted by TheLastPirate

Has anyone heard of any rules as to when to change a mast. Mine is nearly 50 years old, has extra holes, quarter size dent.The plan is to raise the boom for standing headroom which will leave more holes. I'm refitting the boat and just wondering if I should replace the mast as well. It will be for offshore.

It seems every other piece of metal that takes a load on a boat eventually gets replaced.

I wonder about the loads over 50 years, do they weaken the mast? Or do the mastheads get replaced? I know you are able to change sheaves but does the metal fatigue enough to change it after half a century?



Thanks

It’s a fair question. I don’t think the metal itself fatigues much if you’re talking about aluminum, given the amount of bending that actually occurs in a mast.

Holes however might be a different story.

I ran a boat yard for about 10 years and saw a number of masts that had broken for different reasons. Whatever the cause of the break (tangled in bridges, rough seas, whatever) It did seem that most of the fractures occurred along places where there were a number of holes. Not just empty holes. But holes that had rivets in them and things like that.

I am not an engineer. So I can only give you anecdotal experience. I have seen many masts with holes that have been welded up using a square patch of aluminum. I have never seen a failure around a patch like this.

Perhaps contacting a mast manufacturer would give you more solid data on the problem.

[Van Der Beek]

Originally Posted by TheLastPirate

Has anyone heard of any rules as to when to change a mast. Mine is nearly 50 years old, has extra holes, quarter size dent.The plan is to raise the boom for standing headroom which will leave more holes. I'm refitting the boat and just wondering if I should replace the mast as well. It will be for offshore.
It seems every other piece of metal that takes a load on a boat eventually gets replaced.
I wonder about the loads over 50 years, do they weaken the mast? Or do the mastheads get replaced? I know you are able to change sheaves but does the metal fatigue enough to change it after half a century?

Thanks

If the mast is in good condition you can keep it and just replace the standing rigging.

Also check chain plates.

[Manateeman]

Photos please.

[MJH]

Originally Posted by TheLastPirate

Has anyone heard of any rules as to when to change a mast. Mine is nearly 50 years old, has extra holes, quarter size dent.The plan is to raise the boom for standing headroom which will leave more holes. I'm refitting the boat and just wondering if I should replace the mast as well. It will be for offshore.
It seems every other piece of metal that takes a load on a boat eventually gets replaced.
I wonder about the loads over 50 years, do they weaken the mast? Or do the mastheads get replaced? I know you are able to change sheaves but does the metal fatigue enough to change it after half a century?

Thanks

Cared for properly it should last the life of the boat. Is it keel stepped or deck stepped? A new mast will be very expensive. Recommend checking with a rigger or just get a full rig inspection...since you are going offshore it wouldn't be a bad idea anyway.

Check in with the Tayana Forum and maybe somebody's got one. As a matter of fact there is a Tayana 37 at the Port Townsend, WA Boat Haven that has been hauled there for years with the mast lying alongside...maybe the owner will sell it to you. But shipping it to NC would cost you an arm and a leg.

Good Luck.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

[Mlp48]

I'd think extent of use and kind of use to-date would figure lots in this question but as with the preceding response, I'd recommend a professional's eye and take, and then get on the Forum for historical mast info.

If mine, I'd probably see what the designer has to say about the original and then also get their take on what a new mast should be in both "as originaL" and "what a dream mast could be". I'd also talk to mast builders and to someone like Buzz Ballenger in CA and who will give another personal "take" and who has built all kinds of masts.
.
One thing that would be very much on my mind: I had a friend who built a sensational boat but then bought a used and damaged mast that he had repaired with, by the way, a welded-on plate. That mast was "all" he said he could afford after a few boat building cost surprises. I think, accordingly, he took no chances EVER with the rig -- which was OK -- except he never went very far and he then used the boat less and less and less. When he finally decided to sell, it was a very long long wait for a sale. In my eye, it was not the boat that caused that wait !!