I took the mast boot off the keel stepped mast of my Yankee 30 sloop. I discovered what appears to be a splice in the mast . About midway at the partners, there is a horizontal joint in the mast with several rivets above and below it. I can only assume the rivets join the two sections of mast to an inner sleeve. Has anyone heard of anything like this? If so, what would be the purpose of the spice? Someone suggested that the mast might have been tabernacle mounted at some point, but I find this hard to belive in a boat that was designed to be keel stepped. In addition, I see no signs of a tabernacle on the deck. Any ideas?
Last edited by L124C; 10-28-2007 at 02:11 PM.
Reason: corrected spelling
If its right at the partners, deck level, it could be the the boat was retrofitted to have a keel stepped mast. I don't know how Yankees were rigged, deck or keel stepped. It could also be a repair, was the boat ever dismasted?
There is a limit to the length of an aluminum extrusion so joints are common. You will usually find a joint at the partners or spreaders because the mast is more in compression then bending at those places. A joint doesn’t always mean a change or repair was made it may only indicate that the section used for your boat came standard in a length that needed a piece spliced in to be long enough for your mast. Properly done a splice isn’t any reason for concern.
All the best,
Robert Gainer
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Study the history of naval architecture and move forward knowing what didn’t work before.
Don’t waste time making the same old mistakes but instead make new ones and to insure your place in history be sure the mistakes are big ones.
Never design a mast that is weaker then the boat
Never design a boat that is weaker then the mast
Never listen to someone describe why your project will not work unless they can show you the broken pieces of their own version.
Your 30 doesn't have a very big rig so I expect that the mast was repaired at some point with a joint. Ut can be a lot cheaper to splice a peice in than to repklace the entire mast. I've seen plenty of one designs with spliced masts and I wouldn't think it anything to worry about unless there were any evidence of some type of problem developing.
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. About midway at the partners, there is a horizontal joint in the mast with several rivets above and below it. I can only assume the rivets join the two sections of mast to an inner sleeve. Has anyone heard of anything like this? If so, what would be the purpose of the spice? Someone suggested that the mast might have been tabernacle mounted at some point, but I find this hard to belive in a boat that was designed to be keel stepped. In addition, I see no signs of a tabernacle on the deck. Any ideas?
