[JohnRPollard]

DB27513 asked: <>

There are many, many, solid blue-water boats in this size range that have deck-stepped masts. There will always be debate about what is the better approach, but properly executed there is nothing inherantly wrong with a deck-stepped mast on a boat of this size. There are eve some advantages to deck-stepped, and it is a fairly straightforward process to design sufficient support via a compression post that transfers the loads to the keel.

As boats get larger, it eventually becomes easier to just step the mast on the keel. So speaking very generally you will often see boats in the sub-35 foot range with deck-stepped masts, in the mid-upper 30's it can go either way, and above 40 usually it's keel-stepped (again - generally speaking). In the realm of "blue-water" boats, a good example that I'm familiar with is the Pacific Seacraft line, where all their models under 40 feet (Flicka 20, PSC 25, Dana 24, Orion 27, Mariah 31, Crealock 31 & PH32, Crealock 34, Crealock 37) all have deck-stepped masts. The Crealock 40 & PH40, as well as the Crealock 44, have keel-stepped masts. All were built to be blue-water boats (even if many are considered small for that purpose by today's standards).

I wouldn't lose sleep over the deck-stepped mast. But, someone pointed out that some of these boats were kit or home-built, so be sure that the compression post arrangement was properly designed and executed.