MASTHEAD CRACKS FeFeill SPAR

[Mosshijo]

Spar is on a Westsail 39 and over 40 years old. There are hairline cracks on both sides of the masthead about halfway through the thickness of the metal and all pullys are siezed. FeFiell company doesn't make their marine products anymore so can't source a replacement from them. What should I do? This is my first big boat and freaked out about all the huge load on a rig this size! Also it is welded on.

[psk125]

Talk to someone who knows aluminum welding. They might suggest adding some material to the damaged area to strengthen it, or might tell you that welding would weaken the old metal too much. If the masthead is welded on you could probably cut it off, have a new one made (It looks relatively simple.) and weld the new one back on.

[Bellinghamster]

Yikes! Definitely don't go sailing with it like that! The forestay attachment looks like it's preparing to let go. I'd run the headsail halyard to a bow cleat as a backup and make arrangements to pull the mast ASAP.

The proper fix would be to cut the whole masthead assembly off and weld on a new one. A local rigger should be able to assist with design and recommending an aluminum fabricator.

[markxengineerin]

Dang, I have the same mast, and this gives me a sinking feeling about what the future might look like. I would not trust just any generic welder, I think you want one with specialized training to repair something like that. It's not a common repair, to my knowledge, that will have safe standards or practices to follow. It needs to be thought of pretty deeply, planned, before welding/sleeving/any type of repair begins. My first thought would be to lop the top off, and assuming the interface metal looks corrosion free, weld a newly fabricated copy back on, same as original construction. If the interface looks bad, that's where the expert help would really be needed.

I would be looking at places that do high level repair for marine or aerospace structures, as a starting point, and trying to cross-check whatever advice you get. Where are you located? I have an East Coast recommendation if it's relevant.

[Bowdrie]

Originally Posted by psk125

If the masthead is welded on you could probably cut it off, have a new one made (It looks relatively simple.) and weld the new one back on.

^This.
Gotta stretch my memory a bit here, (I had dealings with LeFiell back when that mast was made,) anyway, IIRC that mast head is just a simple "sheeve box" that uses sets of sheeves fore-an-aft for external halyards?
If so, a complete replacement could be easily made.
You can even cut the aluminum parts yourself and have it Tig welded.
Cut off the old one just at the bottom of the perimeter weld and weld on the new one.
Go up one size in the thickness of the verticals that house the sheeves/axles.
LeFiell made those sheeve boxes with both double and triple sheeves.