Masthead replacement on Ericson 29

Have any E29 owners undertaken replacing thier masthead? Upon close inspection of mine, all cotter pin holes are elongated, especially the one for the forestay, which makes me think the metal may be fatigued from 30 years of flogging. I'm getting ready to replace all my standing rigging, which would be for naught if the masthead ultimately fails.

Compounding the difficulty of replacing the masthead on an E29 is the fact that it is welded to the top of the mast, so there would be some destruction to the mast in getting it off. With the right approach though, couldn't a new masthead be designed with a sleeve to fit into the new opening at the top of mast (finished and cleaned, of course, to receive the new masthead designed to restore the proper mast height)? This would facilitate future inspection/servicing of sheaves, electrical, etc., and also allow further modifications, such as running lines internally, controlling line slap, rewiring, lightning protection, etc.

Could an effective masthead repair be effected on existing masthead, and still achieve the other benefits as well?

Would appreciate any thoughts on the matter.

Thanks.

John,

I had a similar problem with my 75 E32 about 8 years ago. The pin for the forestay had elongated the hole in the aluminum masthead. What the yard suggested and I agreed to, was they drilled a hole further up in the masthead in line with the forestay (plenty of room). They then through-bolted it with a large stainless bolt, and ran stainless straps on the outside of the masthead to the old hole to take up some of the load. Does that make sense??? I've had no problems with it, and when I had the mast down last spring everything still looked good.

- Cory Bolton

Hi John I worked in the biz building masts , Most mastheads are welded in. Most elongated holes can be welded in and redrilled or drilled oversize and a sleave put in . As well the side plates can be sistered to reinforcing plates . Replacing the head while not really that hard would be an expensive job.
Take your mast to a competent aluminum welder. Or even better have a mobile come to you. The redrilling is easy to do your self.

Thanks for the replies, this definitely gives me better direction for how to address the issue, and I agree the current masthead could probably be salvaged and improved.

Eric, you own an E29, and with your experience working on masts, do your think it would be reasonable to implement the other upgrades I mentioned:

1) Run lines internally. I believe there are currently 2 sheaves fore, and 2 sheaves aft, which currently lead TWO halyards all the way thu the masthead. Could I drop each halyard over 1 sheave and down the mast rather than thru masthead, and install exit plates near the mast base? That would allow two more lines (spinnaker & bosun's chair) to be run similarly. Or are there other aspects of the current design that would make this impossible?

2) Rewire electrical. Shouldn't be a problem.

3) Install lightning protection. Lots of options, depending on your school of thought, and with the squalls around here, I think it is necessary. I subscribe to Strikeshield's grounding concept of having a copper point as the highest point on the top of the mast (by at least 6"), run to heavy guage copper (4 AWG or heavier) wire down the mast & support, and terminated appropriately (separate discussion). How to run the copper wire, though?

4) Finally, and most important to my wife's comfort, is controlling line slap. I'm open to suggestion here.

Thanks for your feedback.

I have an E29 and to answer your questions about running lines internal to the mast I would have to say it is not a problem - my E29 has the following running internally - Main Halyard, 2-jib halyard, 1-spinaker halyard, 1- spin pole topping lift, 1-spin pole positioning line (pulls butt end up).

The main halyard, topping lift, and pole control line all exit the base of the mast after passing an interally mounted turning block. The jib and spinaker halyards exit through slots in the mast.

-Kyle

I have one word for line slap.................
BUNGEEE

Pat
E29
#224
Holy Guacamole

Kyle is right no problem runnig halyards internaly. But and there always is a but it is not as easy as dropping a line down the tube. Great care must be taken to prevent internal lines from twisting and overwraping each other leading to a lot of friction and wear, I used to pull threw parachute cord attached to a long plastic conduit with a tee top to spread out and guide the lines then fish the lines out threw the exits. Cut in the exits with a router but be carefull !! You also will have to clean out any shavings from inside the mast as they will lodge in your halyards and make great meathooks. The electrical runs in a seperate plastic conduit within the mast rivited to the mast wall and should be easy to fish new wire threw.
The sheaves on the stock masthead are for wire and will have to be replaced if all rope halyards are desired . They are a tight fit and you may have a hard time finding replacements . You may have to get them turned on a lathe to a 3/8 radius which will pretty much use up the width of the sheave.
It's a pretty big project Is it worth it ??? I just put the halyards ect. off to the lifelines when at the dock no clatter at all.

I'm with Pat BUNGEE.

Cheers
Eric

I've been using bungee on the halyards, but the problem is the electrical already installed, which is not thru conduit, definitely slaps, and definitely needs to be replaced. Since the stick has got to come down anyway for the rigging, I figure I might as well tackle the rest of this at the same time.

I'll measure my sheaves, but they are currently working fine for 3/8" rope halyards going thru the masthead with no chafe (Perhaps they were widened before).

Thanks for all the information. Much appreciated!

HI John You will need a conduit . Household 1-in. Electrical PCV is suitable . Theres a trick to putting it in you will need a drill and rivit gun . Get in touch with me when your planning to take this on. I'm in Victoria. If your in the area I can draw you up a plan.

John,

When I first bought my 29 I pulled the stick to have it painted, And had conduit put in for the electical at that time. I had inquired about having the halyards run internally, But when I was told how much it was going to cost :eek: (cutting the masthead off and refabricating one), It suddenly wasn't as important to me anymore and I used the money somewhere else. Now I have developed a new relasionship with the bungee company. Every year I go to HomeDepot, Buy a couple of bags (various sizes) and viola I'm good for another season.

Pat
'73
E29
#224
Holy Guacamole

Mast slap

I sling the halyards on the outside of the spreaders and then back to the cleats. This keeps them from slapping the mast.

I'll be going down in the next two weeks to reinstall the Atomic 4, which I just finished rebuilding completely. Then I'm motoring over to the yard where they will pull the stick. It will be down for the next month as the standing rigging gets overhauled. Once down, I'll work with a rigger to determine costs for doing everything else, and decide...

Eric, I agree the conduit for electrical is a must-do. I'm in North Carolina, so I don't think I'll be able to meet you in time for this project, but if there is any guidance you can offer for riveting conduit to the interior wall, I would be very grateful. Once I understand a project, I can usually execute it, and prefer to do most of the work myself. Feel free to e-mail me.

Thanks everyone. I'll report back on status as things progress.

Say no to bungee!

According to me ( ), the proper, seamanlike way to stop the slap is to bring the halyards out to the pulpit and/or padeyes on the bow (halyards to the pulpit, topping lift sometimes to a padeye-or the end of the forguy).

This is cleanest with internal halyards, as you only need to bring the tail end out, but even with external , bring both ends out and look like a pro-bungees don't really belong on a boat-except to contain running backstays if you have them, or as part of a sail cover/sheet bag, or as part of a sliding genoa car system.

Not that I have an opinion, though-:eek:
Cheers,

I disagree. Having a smaller boat it makes it easier to use bungees on the front tie-downs of my bimini, other wise I would have to crawl out from my cockpit . This way I can just push up with my forearm and walk out , And when the wind picks up a little I use the hard ties.

Also, When I'm cruising I don't remove my halyard from my main when at anchor. I hook a bungee between the halyard and the first sail tie then snug the halyard. This keeps the halyard from slaping and allows me to slip out in an emergency with minimal rigging. There is nothing like waking up to 40kts of wind and having to deal with hooking up halyards . Another little tidbit, Always leave some sort of float tied to the bitter end of your anchor rode. If you need to leave a cove in a hurry, and I mean in a hurry!! Just drop your anchor line and come back for it another day.

Pat
E29
#224
Holy Guacamole

HGSail said:

Another little tidbit, Always leave some sort of float tied to the bitter end of your anchor rode. If you need to leave a cove in a hurry, and I mean in a hurry!! Just drop your anchor line and come back for it another day.

Click to expand...

I've never been in a situation where I couldn't raise the anchor as part of leaving, but it sure is an excellent suggestion ! It would be especially useful in two-anchor situations where the wind has shifted in the wrong direction.



-Sven

John I will try to put some instructions together in PDF format for installing a conduit. It's not that hard you will need 2 people to do it
All the best
Eric

Conduit install PDF

John. I'm taking a shot at attaching a PDF with directions on how to put im a conduit. Let me know if it makes sense
eric

Eric-

Thank you for the diagram. It makes perfect sense. I will add a minor modification of flanging, or otherwise smoothing, the edges of the Conduit's inner diameter at the ends just to insure against chafing the wires over years of vibration.

Would you recommend a separate PVC Conduit to run 4AWG (or heavier) Copper wire used for a lightning ground? It seems running it seperately be some help (albeit minor) to insure against voltage flashing over to the house wiring.

Thank you very much for the valuable info!

I'm not sure chafe would be a problem since you're using PVC conduit (don't use EMT!).

How far have you folks that have done this typically spaced your conduit? How did you deal with wire exits at the masthead/steaming light?

Hi John I'm glad the diagram made sense > I don't know much about lightning and grounding . There are so many opinions I have never known which way to go with it . I still go with the short piece of chain dragging in tha water from a baby stay when things get threatening but thankfully I never put it to the test it would be interesting to here what people have to say on the subject ,
Nate I',m not sure what you mean by spacing in a conduit ??
For exits you usally drill a 3/8 hole threw the mast into the conduit and fish the wire threw , seal it with Sikaflex , the masthead wires exit the top of the conduit then threw holes in the top of the masthead where it can be sealed with glands or Sikaflex. the conduit ends about 6 in. short of the masthead.

Cheers
Eric