Connie, I feel for you, dude. Sorry to tell you, but your mast is scrap. It's Humpty Dumpty after the fall. I've been there, done that, only I don't have a friend to blame, I did it myself. I felt like I'd just lost a friend or after a massively big blowup with my spouse.
There's a good part, though. You get to put together a new mast that's just the way you want it. If you ever wanted to change something about your rigging, or run more electrical wires up the mast, now's the time. So take off all the hardware, and keep the old mast as a template to help you find the right spot to put things on the new mast. Write on the old mast where everything was. Use a Sharpie so it doesn't wear off. Make a tracing of the mast section, with careful measurements, including the wall thickness. That way you can order a mast section that's close. As to sources, I agree Dwyer's a good source, but they probably don't have the exact section that the M-15 uses. They probably have one that's close. The good part of Dwyer is they have complete mast hardware that's matched to the section. Bob Eeg can send you the exact section that should fit the existing tabernacle and masthead crane. Go to Dwyer or www.RigRite.com for all the mast hardware, they have about the best selection. They may also have a close-to-matching section. As to improvements, I'm probably not a good example. I loaded up my masthead, with four sheaves, a spinnaker block, a VHF antenna, anchor light, and a light for the wind-fly. I used Bob's section with a masthead I got from Dwyer (with some filing to make it all fit). I ran all the lines internal and had them exit out the bottom. So I have a "top-heavy" mast. As the racers will tell you, you want to minimize weight aloft to help point higher and go faster. Later on, I read an article in Small Craft Advisor, where some experienced sailors opined that one of the essentials of a seaworthy small craft is to have a watertight mast, so that if you get knocked down, the mast helps the boat right itself. Oops, I'm wrong on both counts. But hey, a boat's a floating compromise ... Now's your chance to upgrade the electrical. Put on a masthead/deck light combo, a good anchor light, ditch the tricolor and put on forward bicolors and a stern light. That's so you can motor and/or sail at night, and be legal. If you do, put the wires in a PVC pipe that you run up inside the mast, attaching with blind pop rivets. That way, you prevent chafe from wrecking the wires, and keep them from rattling while at anchor. Good luck, guy. At least you know what your winter project is. John Fleming M-17: "Star Cross'd" Conbert H Benneck wrote: > Hi Jerry, > > I tried straighening the mast by using a handy oak tree trunk and a large > granite boulder, but the best I could do was to go from a 90 degree bend > to about 120 degrees. At that point the forces increased, and simply > leaning on the end of the mast to bend it wouldn't do. > > Question: > > Can a mast be straightened, or is it scrap? > > Where did you buy the masts ? (I most likely need a new one) > > Do you have any mast specs.; drawings; that I could use to tell the mast > manufacturer what I want, and how to build it? .......or do I just give > him the old one and say, duplicate it? > > If I get a new one from a local mast manufacturer, do you have any > improvements, or recommendations that you would incorporate? . ...a > "Tee" top for easier installation of a topping lift? Upgraded hardware? > > _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
