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Mast and Boom - Replacements

Greenie

5 O'clock Somewhere
Hi Everyone,
just thought I'd ask around to see if anyone has ever replaced a Mast/Boom on an Ericson 35? I've replaced a lot of stuff on my '79 Ericson to include ...

Teak handrails
Teak cockpit cowlings
Main Sail
Jib Sail
rub railings
Lifelines
Running Lines
headliner
all covers and cushions
Main Sail Bag with lazy Jacks

And now the original Mast and Boom are really showing their age and peeling paint. looks like the original owners - I'm the 3rd owner did some touch up painiting that is starting to show it's age as well.

Just wondering if anyone has ever
A) taken their mast down and had it painted or annodized professionally, or
B) replaced it (I'm sure this is expensive and I'm not sure even where to start to purchase a new mast/Boom.

just thought I'd ask if there was some advice to be given out there.
 

Afrakes

Sustaining Member
Mastand Boom Rehab

If there are no major corrosion issues with either of them then take them down and renew them. If you have fifteen to twenty thousand dollars laying around and no inclination to work on them then buy new ones.
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
As Al points out these extrusions will last a lifetime unless attacked by corrosion or physically bent or damaged.
You will need to lay the sections down and remove all of the fittings. Take LOTS of pix and tag and bag everything carefully.
There are videos about refinishing aluminum and I have seen many great refinished spars. Most of us will not achieve a glossy finish like a pro can do with an airless sprayer, but you can come pretty close. You can give it another ten to 20 years of great looks, and that might be longer than you own the boat. :)

You mention re-anodysing, and IF you live in a city with a facility that can handle your spar length, do get a quote from them. Probably rather expensive, but it never hurts to ask.
 
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toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
Is your mast currently up? If so, I don't think I'd worry about it until the next time it comes down for maintenance. It's time to go sail, after all!

I'm currently re-rigging my mast. I don't think I'll try painting over the beat-up anodizing at this time - seems like beat-up paint would look worse than beat-up bare aluminum. I could be wrong. But I'll mention that I found some corrosion under all of the stainless fittings. Putting everything back together with plenty of Tef-Gel and 3m Scotchrap 50 tape under the flat parts. It appears that the sail track originally had a thin strip of wood veneer or something between it and the mast. Dunno if I have the stomach to drill out all those rivets... wanna sail!
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
The quote to repaint my 32-3 mast was $8,000. More, usually, the boatyard said, because most owners find it;s a natural opportunity to replace wiring and hardware and fixtures.

One of those jobs that many of us just can't do ourselves because of lack of practical work space. But if you can , go for it.
 

Greenie

5 O'clock Somewhere
Thanks for the info I knew it was either going to be expensive or labor intensive. I think I'll just take Toddster's advice and go Sail.
 

admirals barge

Member III
mast repair

hi

about 3 years ago i had all the rigging replaced and life lines, all new wiring in the mast and the mast and boom painted with algrip silver ...it was done by seatek in san pedro...was recommended by a lot of people.. the boat was on the hard and they came and took all the rigging and the mast to there shop. 2 weeks later it was all back. had a couple issues, but were taken care of immediately..after 3 years the mast still looks great, but you can see some bubbling around the fittings. i cann't remember what the cost was but i thought it was reasonable for everything new.

give them a call and get a quote on what you want done..

good luck
greg
 

ChrisS

Member III
Selden boom

In 2016 I replaced the bent OEM boom with a Selden factory one. It came with the gooseneck and internal rigging. I believe it cost about $1,300 delivered through a local rigger.

A very nice upgrade that, along with a Garhaur rigid vang, provides a much easier ability to shape the main.
 
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garryh

Member III
"seems like beat-up paint would look worse than beat-up bare aluminum"
how true is this! Seems the PO of my 35 took a paintbrush to the mast with what may be Brightside and nowhere near enough prep... now it is flaking in many areas and is going to be a pita to remedy.
Mast replacement is something I have been considering (remotely) due to the weight of the existing mast and the lack of bend. The specs call for zero rake and zero bend... it is a serious chunk of metal. A backstay adjuster is a non-issue. I have read posts where people try to put some bend into it but I think this is a mistake, would take huge forces to do it and create too much compression. The boat came without a main so I am using an 'interim' main until this rises to the top of the (long) list. In the meantime I have my eyes out for a replacement mast. The newer profiles will allow some bend to provide some sail shape, then I can get the new main cut appropriately. No possible way I can buy a new one but I am in touch with a company who recycle old and abandoned boats... they just cut the masts up for scrap because it is not worth their time trying to move, store, market them etc etc. I might get lucky!
 

toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
Well, I just put a backstay adjuster on the new rigging, in hopes of adjusting forestay tension on the fly. We'll see how it goes. The mast seems pretty stout and rigid when it's installed, but when it's on the ground, you can pick up one end and shake to see how much it flexes - there is some bend. There is all the other rigging keeping it from bending though... And there is some concern that one might flex the hull instead of the mast.


I do sometimes get boom-envy when I see people with nice Selden booms with well-layed-out hardware. But there's nothing really wrong with the one I have,except a little pitting. If I saw a used one at a reasonable price in a consignment yard or something, I might be tempted. Right now I've got the Spinnaker pole and the boom laying on the table next to the mast, and at first glance, there isn't much difference between them.
 

garryh

Member III
no idea about the 29 mast, but it sure would be nice to have some adjustment. Just none available with the 35-2 mast. I do have a backstay adjuster sitting here but there is no point in installing it.
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Spar sections and happiness

Regarding bend, your sailmaker will cut the new main to suite your spar behavior. While there is some more "gear shifting" possible with a more bend-y spar, there is also commensurate risk of failure if it is not supported properly.
Evaluate the present shroud arrangement and discuss it with a rigger and sailmaker.
You may find that what you have is actually 99% of what you need......
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Increasing forestay tension doesn't really bend the mast, does it?

Mast bending is a fractional rig thing, with backstays and special sails, and a great lot of bother for nothing on a cruising boat.

This may, of course, be opinion.
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Increasing forestay tension doesn't really bend the mast, does it?

Mast bending is a fractional rig thing, with backstays and special sails, and a great lot of bother for nothing on a cruising boat.

This may, of course, be opinion.

My previous boats were factional, and increasing the BS tension would put some bend in the mast.
The Olson is masthead rigged, and I can put several inches of bend in with some purposeful BS tension, but it takes about 2K# to do so. (!)
Seems like a lot of pressure, so we usually sail with under 800 or 1K.

I had the main cut rather flat, as opposed to having a lot of belly in it. Also, I was being 'thrifty' and wanted to avoid having a max-mid-section sail that would show its age faster with even a little stretch.

I know that I gave away a few nano-knots, but there is the old lesson learned on the race course that most races are won by spending most of one's time going in the right direction and avoiding lost time at marks or in unneeded helm wiggling. Just one opinion, and, YMMV. :)
 
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bgary

Advanced Beginner
Blogs Author
Increasing forestay tension doesn't really bend the mast, does it?

Mast bending is a fractional rig thing, with backstays and special sails, and a great lot of bother for nothing on a cruising boat.

Backstay tension, by itself, doesn't bend the mast unless you REALLY crank on the pressure. The major effect of backstay tension (alone) is to straighten the headstay (flattens the entry of the headsail) and possibly add a little rake (which is not necessarily a good thing as the breeze comes up.

There are lots of masthead rigs that bend (the original Ericson-34 3/4-tonner as an example.) Adjustable babystay on the foredeck to pull the middle of the rig forward; checkstays and runners to fine-tune the amount of bend and stabilize the middle of the mast to keep it from pumping. Backstay tension is definitely a factor in how much bend you get.

Having said that, yeah, all of that is - at best - a bother on a cruising boat and - at worst - unnecessary potential points of failure offshore. In fact, when I was doing deliveries, we often rigged "chicken-stays" to *prevent* bending while offshore.

$.02
Bruce
 

toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
Well, when the wind comes up and the headstay starts sagging and/or pumping, something is bending is it not? The idea of the adjuster was to try to remedy that. Of course it's entirely possible that I'm wrong about all this and the adjuster will end up being just a really fat turnbuckle. In which case I'll need to make up a good story to use if someone ever asks about it.
 

Afrakes

Sustaining Member
Backstay adjuster

Toddster, what mechanism did you use to adjust the backstay? Do you have a bridle?
 

toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
No it's an old Ronstan backstay adjuster - the kind with the big black wheel. I just had a new backstay made to fit with it. Oddly enough, the adjuster correctly fits the (previously unknown) 1/2" hole in the chainplate, while the old 3/8" pin turnbuckle that was on there did not. In fact I think I may be seeing tiny stress cracks caused by the point loading. So ordering up a new chainplate... It never ends. :rolleyes:

Well, very similar to this image found elsewhere on the site: http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/attachment.php?attachmentid=6438&d=1268878109 Said to have been used on an E35
 
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markvone

Sustaining Member
You can get mast bend on a keel stepped masthead rig with a reasonably flexible mast section if you set it up with a few tweaks. You position the mast base all the way aft on the keel step. Mine has 2 inches of adjustment. Then you chock the mast all the way forward at the partners. You set the forestay length so the mast head is nearly over the base and you have a slightly pre-bent mast. Any further backstay shortening via adjuster will pull the masthead aft and bend the mast since it is already slightly bowed forward in the middle. This type of mast tuning eliminated the use of the babystay to bend the mast and made tacking a big IOR genoa much faster.

Don't discount the advantages of a wide range of forestay tension on a large genoa, masthead rig like most of our Ericsons. With a single 120 -140 LP roller reefable genoa, I would set up my forestay for maximum sag to power up this sail at the lowest wind speeds. As the wind comes up and heel reaches maximum, increase backstay pressure to pull the sag (and power) out of the genoa. Once the forestay is tight and heel is at max, start roller reefing the genoa. If you have set up your mast as described in the top paragraph you will be getting some mast bend and de-powering the main at the same time you are de-powering the genoa. You can adjust for several knots of windspeed by just pumping the hydraulic backstay lever.

Mark
 

bgary

Advanced Beginner
Blogs Author
Well, when the wind comes up and the headstay starts sagging and/or pumping, something is bending is it not?

It's really hard to bend a deck-stepped mast. Especially one with forward and aft lowers.

Headstay sag is often (not always, but often) because the headstay and backstay are "soft" - meaning they feel taut at the dock and in light air, but they really aren't. Kinda like how shrouds feel taut at the dock, but when the wind comes up the leeward ones get wobbly.

There are other factors, too. Wire can stretch a little. Boats can bend a little. But the first place I'd look, if trying to address headstay sag, would be the "tune" of the standing rigging.
 
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