The Masts are down! Napa Valley Marina - Napa California. I made it up the Napa river without running aground riding a 5 knot flood tide. The masts, booms, and bowsprit are now sitting in the yard.…

[Hans Petrie]

The Masts are down! Napa Valley Marina - Napa California.  I made it up the Napa river without running aground riding a 5 knot flood tide.  The masts, booms, and bowsprit are now sitting in the yard.  Removing them was easy enough since they had a manbasket to remove the triadic stay.  It is a simple matter of removing all the turnbuckles and plucking them from the boat with a crane.

 

From what I can see the main mast front board has a seem where it has begun to separate all down the length of the mast.  The mast is basically splitting apart at the seem.  It should (I hope) be a matter of removing that board and expoxying it back using a lot of clamps that I will probably make using scrap wood and threaded rod.

 

The mizzen is another matter.  I can't seem to find any spruce.  Redwood, cedar, and fir seem to to my options if I need new would.  My mizzen repair of seven years ago, while still holding strong needs to be redone.  It seems that moisture got inside at some point and swelled up the mast core I installed and there is a split in one of the original spruce boards.

 

The bowsprit is in pretty good shape.  Just needs some filling here and there and paint.  So today - all the hardware comes off, with extensive notes on where to put it back.

[Hans Petrie]

I bought #24 for $28,000 in 2003 - so I have had it for eight years.  It was in pretty bad shape when I bought it - mizzen cracked and rotted, lots of hull rot around the toe rails.  Pretty much everything on it has been gone over and rebuilt at some point except the engine!  The engine had only 30 hours on it (a Perkins M50).  I have had to rip all the electrical off it though as Perkins of those years has TERRIBLE electrical systems.  All i have now is a starter button.  I need to add a glow plug button and some gauges - oil pressure and water temp.  Then I'll be happy.

 

I just got my booms re-fiberglassed and painted.  So nice.  Did it before the rains hit and they were really dried out good.  I think they will be ready for the Hawaii trip (ok so the Hawaii trip is in my head and not a reality).

[gene wild]

Hans---just wondering how long you have owned #24.

gene wild

[bob mitchell]

Considering that you implied that the stress area was associated with the solid repair area, and the idea of of not having hard spots (in this case a sharp corner or boundary of solid wood where there wasn't one before) that focus stress, could it be that on either side of the solid repair the stresses were focused and initiated failure. I can envision stress passing right through the really strong solid repair area with no relief, but then over whelming the area right above it - ie the proverbial "hard spot" with focused stresses.

[Hans Petrie]

Also, I wouldn't rule out the basic failure of the main starting to "give way" and transmitting forward stress on the mizzen through the triadic stay.  Basically, the rig is only as strong as its weakest component.  And I'm wondering if the whole thing didn't just get tired.  Recently, in even moderate winds the whole thing would vibrate in an unsettling manner.  I suspect it just all needed to be shored up.

[Hans Petrie]

I didn't seal up the fur I used in my repair over seven years ago.  It appears it did swell and cause failure of the surrounding mast.  However, when I ripped it all apart it was totally dry and there was no evidence of swelling.  I'm wondering if it wasn't actually just stress on the mast, transmitted through the internal solid core.  It is all such a mystery.  It worked fantastic for so many years even in gales I have been through with no evidence of failure until recently.  Could have just been over stress due to bad tension in the rigging.  Not sure at this point.

[bob mitchell]

A couple of ideas I am sure you have contemplated - when you stop the solid part of the mast in the bottom of the mast (maybe 10 or  12' up, can't remember) you are supposed to feather it out so there won't be any hard spots, ie no sharp boundary to focus forces. The other idea I am contemplating is that I will in fact seal up totally any lumber that is used in the inside solid part so that it cannot swell (contrary to what we just talked about for the transom!)

[Hans Petrie]

Yes.  It weren't for the sunshine and beautiful weather her in Napa I would tie the 66 lb Bruce to my ankle and jump overboard.  (Just Kidding).  My obsession with this boarders on a nautical dementia so deep that I'm sure there is no cure.

[bob mitchell]

And as far as I know, all the boats used sitka - so the mizzen is probably non original as well - don't you love getting into these mysteries?

[bob mitchell]

   You know, the plywood rabbets and scarfs were the only way they made the masts, as far as I know - so I would bet that your original mast has been replaced! Not unusual for Newporters.

[Hans Petrie]

Also, the main does not have the 1/4" plywood "rabbit joint" features of the mizzen.  In fact.  It has no rabbit joint at all.  Just some strips of wood nailed in at about 12" intervals (4" pieces each) to act as "guides".  In fact.  The main is so different from the mizzen in construction and detail that I'm not certain it is from the same boat!