[judgeyoung]

Hi, All, I just acquired a Coronado 23 that had had the mast stolen for scrap. I bought another 24' mast from a Venture 222 and all the rigging from it. My boat still has all the rigging as the thieves just unbolted everything. I have never seen the original mast from my boat.

There are three anchor points on each side and three shrouds, I think. The Venture mast only has two. Pardon, my newbie dumb question, but where do the three go, or do I just use the two on each side? I assume that there are two at the spreader and one through the spreaders to the masthead. Is that correct. Any chance that either of the existing shrouds will fit without modification, other than adjusting turnbuckles?

Second question. The PO either lost or the thieves took the rudder, too. I can build a replacement easily enough, but I need the dimensions of the origina. Anyone have them, or would be willing to measure theirs?

Thanks!

 

[alternativefueler]

Hey there,
I'm a 30yr columbia sailor/owner.
Most of the the Coro23 have 2 shrouds per side:
a single upper shroud from deck to mast head and
a single lower shroud (nicknamed baby stays) from same deckpoint to just under the spreaders. Larger Columbias have two lower shrouds equally spaced with a single chainplate for each,
with a single chainplate centered between them with a single upper shroud.

One thing about Col/coronado masts is that they are thick walled for a lot of tension without flexing. Is the replacement mast a little "flexible" or stiff?
Are the third set of shrouds that you mentioned attached to the deck like the triangle described above? email me if you'd like a better diagram on a word doc.

 

[alternativefueler]

Hello again, it dawned on me later that you didn't mention what series of 23 that you have?
Now that your boat has two lower shrouds, whether your series came "oem" with two lower shrouds or just one or if the two shrouds may have been added by a past owner, is irrelevant. The fact remains that if you have two (better than one), an optimal course is to buy or make a triangular stainless chainplate for each side of the mast under the spreaders and drill three holes to match the shroud terminal pin to mount your shrouds to the new mast at the exact spot needed just under the spreaders. It will be much more stout a rig than the 222 setup. contact me if you have any setbacks.

 

[judgeyoung]

Thanks for the very helpful info Alternativefuels. I have not been back on this sailboat project due to an untimely hailstorm and my ‘took-way-too-long’ singlehanded installation of a complicated metal roof (that and a wrecked shoulder and broken ribs from a turn 3 crash in the minibike nationals at the Lone Star Roundup a couple of weeks ago… and, yes, I do remember that I am well on my way to 60 and should know better than to continue with such antics!).

My C23 had three chainplates on each side so I assume they are oem. The venture mast seems to be built a little lighter than the one on my Reinell 22, but I have never seen the original C23, so I can’t compare to that. The venture’s single shroud connected to a plate that was held by the same bolt that holds the spreaders on. Should I try to use that bolt (kinda looks small…) and make a plate that might be long enough to use the existing C23 shrouds, or make a new hole at the right place? Move the spreaders to the new hole?

Also, is there any sailor’s trick to measuring the proper location and/or length of shrouds. It gets hairy trying to have three guys hold the mast in place with ropes while I try to eyeball, measure, etc, especially in a west Texas breeze!

On another note, what alternative fuels do you deal with? I have made biodiesel, driven about 200K miles on straight used veggie oil, built many wind generators, and currently have a small solar array at my house.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[alternativefueler]

Okay, Columbia mast waall thickness makes it heavy, about 50lbs....
mathematical way to plot the lower shroud pin, is to measure the chain plate from the center of boat keel line, make that A (x itself), existing shroud length will be B (x itself), now take the Asquared add to Bsquared = squared distance up mast FROM CHAIN PLATE HEIGHT (or square root of sum of AB).
That is not the way that I would do it, honestly. Faster for me is to:
Hang/tie mast from bridge highest up mast, while boat parked below
Get my 40' ext. ladder and set it on bridge from cockpit.
I would adj my shroud turnbuckles half threaded, hold all lower shrouds in hand with straps on ends, climb ladder and carefully position them at slack's end, skip to drilling part
IF NO LADDER: then hook my main hly'd to the upper pin of the lower shroud,
tie or snap a noose around the mast to the pin/hly'd shackle to keep it ,
then hoist my halyard up until at end position, while having mast held up.
Drill a hole through the mast side at the location that your shrouds ended up
Use two strap plates overlapping each other with pin size holes in each end
or make a triangular, double pinhole upper chainplate to hold both shrouds with a third hole centered to hold mast thru bolt. (If you can find a low pedestrian or quiet traffic overpass/bridge, to hang your mast from, it would be better....bio, filtered fresh veggie, an elec car, a hybrid car , 3 army multifuels and 7 sailboats, wind turbine and solar panel this summer.