Cost to Cut Mast for ICW

[AiniA]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

Forgot to add, right at the mouth of the St. Johns River is the St. Johns Boat Company, who can likely take care of all your needs.

Could not estimate a cost, but likely several 1,000

More than several I am sure.

[smj]

Originally Posted by louielouie

Current mast height is 70' Catamaran. Appreciate insight if anyone's done it recently. Looking for ballpark on cost, not debate on sail performance etc., thank you.

You’ve got a 70’ mast height on a a Leopard 38?

[louielouie]

Originally Posted by smj

You’ve got a 70’ mast height on a a Leopard 38?

Funny, no sold the L38, this is an FP 44.

[smj]

Originally Posted by louielouie

Funny, no sold the L38, this is an FP 44.

You could cut it down from the top if you have enough room from the hounds up. Would go from a fractional to masthead rig but you wouldn’t have to mess with the standing rigging or jib size. Could also maybe reuse the mast cap, anchor light and wind instruments, just shorten the wiring?

[mlydon]

I hate the idea of you mangling the boat for a trip up the ICW…..
Why not just have the mast lowered, lash it on deck, and have it re-stepped at the other end….. lots cheaper, and you’re not permanently modifying your boat…..

Matt

[SailingHarmonie]

Wow... really?

Is this something people actually do to avoid sailing in the ocean??? Talk about gelding the stallion.

It would be WAY cheaper to just take the whole mast off throw it away and turn it into a motorboat. The cost difference would buy a LOT of diesel fuel.

[SailFastTri]

Originally Posted by smj

You could cut it down from the top if you have enough room from the hounds up. Would go from a fractional to masthead rig but you wouldn’t have to mess with the standing rigging or jib size. Could also maybe reuse the mast cap, anchor light and wind instruments, just shorten the wiring?

This is the only helpful answer so far.

I’ll take a stab at it. Just guessing, but if you can follow the quoted strategy above:
$2500 to unstep and put on stands, including 30 days storage and restepping
$5000 to de-rig the internal wiring and halyards, cut the mast, remounting the top plate and re-rig the internal wiring and lines.
$2000 to sailmaker to cut a horizontal seem to shorten the foot of the mainsail and rejoin, including labor to remove and remount the main on the boom, rerun reefing lines.
$3000 for 30 days dockage while work is done
$3000 for unforeseen stuff.

I’m sure people will say these guesstimates are way off, but perhaps we’ll get some real world numbers.

[SailFastTri]

Just to add a thought - the numerous judgmental posts might be an indication that you would see a decrease or difficulty in resale if you do this.
It’s your boat though, and I think you should be able to use it the way you want. My suggestion would be to keep the section you remove so it could be sleeved and rejoined with rivets at a later date, if desired. Many masts are shipped in sections, so this is a proven thing to do.

[SailingHarmonie]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

This is the only helpful answer so far.

I’ll take a stab at it. Just guessing, but if you can follow the quoted strategy above:
$2500 to unstep and put on stands, including 30 days storage and restepping
$5000 to de-rig the internal wiring and halyards, cut the mast, remounting the top plate and re-rig the internal wiring and lines.
$2000 to sailmaker to cut a horizontal seem to shorten the foot of the mainsail and rejoin, including labor to remove and remount the main on the boom, rerun reefing lines.
$3000 for 30 days dockage while work is done
$3000 for unforeseen stuff.

I’m sure people will say these guesstimates are way off, but perhaps we’ll get some real world numbers.

Your numbers are very reasonable. And they just re-enforce my suggestion that OP just throw away the mast and use the $15,000 to buy diesel fuel for their new motorboat. They would probably be hard pressed to burn that much in 10 years.

You can not make an argument that it would be a bad economic choice--especially for a sailor scared of sailing in the ocean.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

Just to add a thought - the numerous judgmental posts might be an indication that you would see a decrease or difficulty in resale if you do this.

I'm betting the opposite. This is why you see many new boat model air drafts capped to get under the bridges on the ICW.

Vast majority of folks running up and down the east coast use the ICW for some or all of the route. Being able to do that without mucking about with pulling the mast would be a selling point. This does assume a proper well done modification.

The folks who always go outside may be vocal but a small percentage of boat buyers.

[SailingHarmonie]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

I'm betting the opposite. This is why you see many new boat model air drafts capped to get under the bridges on the ICW.

Vast majority of folks running up and down the east coast use the ICW for some or all of the route. Being able to do that without mucking about with pulling the mast would be a selling point. This does assume a proper well done modification.

The folks who always go outside may be vocal but a small percentage of boat buyers.

The boat market is world wide. The number of people who just want to "sail" the ICW is quite small. I think if you look at it without preconceptions you will understand the percentage of boat buyers who have ANY interest in the ICW is very small.

But we all think our way is the only way....

[CarlF]

Several catamaran manufacturers offer ICW mast options these days. The boats sail fine. I also bet the boat will sell fine if marketed on the East Coast of the US. The OP isn’t the only one with this problem.

It’s really not different than carrying a reef at all times. The boat will sail normally in stronger winds and slightly worse in light winds.

Be sure to make it 63’ - too many low 65’ bridges these days

I think it would be much less expensive to cut off the bottom than the top - then just move the gooseneck, shorten the stays, recut the sail. Spreaders may have to be moved or adjusted to compensate for the different shroud angle. You’ll need a marine architect to approve the design or your insurance company won’t cover the boat.

Consider getting new sails made of better than the cheap OEM Dacron sails. This will make up a lot of the performance difference.

Try contacting Dave Calvert. Great sailmaker who specializes in cats. He might be able to point you to a rigger and naval architect who could figure this out.

https://www.calvertsails.com/

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by SailingHarmonie

The boat market is world wide. The number of people who just want to "sail" the ICW is quite small. I think if you look at it without preconceptions you will understand the percentage of boat buyers who have ANY interest in the ICW is very small.

But we all think our way is the only way....

Nothing to do with your way or my way...I'm looking at what the market does.

Theoretically, yes most any large sail cruising boat can cross oceans.....

But the vast majority of boats sold on the US east coast never leave the US east coast...doubly so if you expand the area to include the Great Lakes & Bahamas as part of the east coast.

Long distance ocean crossing cruising makes up a miniscule percentage of cruising boats, so the needs in Perth or Johannesburg are pretty much irrelevant unless it's the OP's intent to take the boat there.

[SV Confianza]

Welp I actually have a real answer for this one. Short story is the we cut 2.75 ft off our privilege 435 and the cost was around $4000. Snagged a mobile welder in Staten Island to do the job.

Longer story is that a Neil pryde sailmaker measure my new main wrong and made it way too short. They were not very accommodating to remake it. Instead of endlessly fighting with them, decided it was an opportunity to be able to visit my parents on the icw and open up icw travel.

We had previously had a run in with the dunlawton bride that took off our fibrglsss antenna and would not chance the icw after.

We made up some of the sail area with a larger roach in the main, and have not noticed a decrease in performance except in the 15kts range when the higher roach puts more pressure aloft to burry a hull more and slow the boat down.

Still worth the trade off for icw access in my opinion, but I’m sure many would disagree.

[Chotu]

Or go back in time about a year and meet me.

we could have just traded masts. Damn. I just spent thousands and thousands of dollars to do the opposite of what you are doing.