There’s a crack in my mast

[MicHughV]

Yep, keep my license current, as from time to time still do some "consulting" work to keep me in beer money..
Electricity is simply not my thing, though understand enough to keep me out of most problems

[wyb2]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

…
Other photo's (bottom right photo above) seem to indicate the flat portion, but not the angled portion, of the shoe is also somewhat corroded or scuffed up. This would seem to suggest that when the mast is upright, the flat portion is bearing in the inside of the tabernacle, but without being there, this is difficult to ascertain. My gut feeling is that it does not provide any bearing, but probably is located very close to the bottom of the tabernacle, where it likely sits in a puddle of salt water and/or rainwater.
….

I think this nails it. In the earlier photos of the mast step/tabernacle there is a raised flange that some blocks are mounted to. The flange appears to exist on the full perimeter, creating a tub. Presumably there is a drain hole that gets plugged once in a while.

Another engineer here if we are counting for some reason.

[MicHughV]

Pivoting masts are rarely seen on sailboats in this day and age. I can probably count on one hand the number I've seen over 35 years at sea and those were all on smaller boats.

When I built my first boat, a ketch, I had the main mast installed by crane, as complete with all the rigging, it was very heavy. Seem to recall it took six of us to walk it down to the water. It was a 40' stick and I can't imagine trying to rotate it.

[Jim Cate]

mast
Pivoting masts are rarely seen on sailboats in this day and age.

Depends upon where you are in the world. Anywhere there is a marina inside of a low bridge (as mentioned several times upthread) they are quite common... like on all the larger boats that live on the wrong side of the bridge.

Perth Australia is mentioned above as one such place (and the likely reason this boat has the tabernacle) and Santa Cruz harbor in California is one a bit closer to your location should you wish to verify this practice.

And the load distribution in the lower bits of the mast are really different than those in either conventional deck steps or keel stepped rigs. I'm not an engineer (but I do know how to spell it) yet I can see that there is near zero compression load below the pivot pin and that the primary loads below the pin must be transverse and resolved against the sides of the tabernacle mount and in the pin itself. The crack and corrosion are not nearly as serious (IMO) as they would be in a conventional stepping situation. Wouldn't like to swear that they couldn't cause a problem in extreme conditions, but I don't see them to be a panic situation either. Some careful observation under load might be educational...

As an aside, IIRC the S&S 34 originally did have a keel stepped mast (my s&s 30 did). I wonder if this is the original mast chopped off and pinned? Might be a bit too limber if so!

Jim

[deblen]

This article explains the West Australia method. Very slick.
https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/m...lowered.47878/


I'm only an Electrical Engineering Associate ( CETT in Canada) ,but I can Google
Cheers/Len

[MicHughV]

I speak as a Florida sailor. Pivoting masts are as rare as dodo eggs around dese here parts.