DaySailer.org Forum

I lost the starboard stay last night (boat was on the water, beached) and it took the mast down. It pulled the bottom of the mast out of its bottom plate and damaged the three bolt holes. My question is if I cut off an inch from the bottom of the mast and drill 3new bolt holes - do you see a down side? I can adjust the stays. A new mast is nearly $1k. Thanks. Andrew in Maryland.

Bummer! Only downside I see is if your mast was short to begin with? As long as there is no other damage, bends, etc., you should be able to repair. As long as you can get proper tension and rake after cutting, should be no problem, and the only side effect would be that your boom would then sit 1" lower.

Did you ever find that stay that you lost? JUST KIDDING!

Agree with Tim. If you want to keep the mast the correct height, you could make a new lower section that is a bit longer. Dwyer sells small sections. This will allow you to use standard stays rather than the cost of custom ones.

John

Thanks guys. I think I can live with the boom a little lower and the turnbuckles should take up the slack of the stays. And yes, the stay was still connected to the mast. The connection to the deck came loose.

As someone who's done what John suggests, I'd recommend it. The boom being a little bit lower might mean that you have to duck as you tack or jibe, which is a heck of a nuisance, especially if you forget to do it. A short section of mast stub will solve that problem inexpensively.

Here's the link for Dwyer mast sections for the DM284, the most commonly used on Daysailers:

http://www.dwyermast.com/items.asp?cat1 ... M-284+Mast

You mention that "It pulled the bottom of the mast out of its bottom plate and damaged the three bolt holes." Are you talking about the cast aluminum step? I had that happen also, but the mast wasn't damaged. Instead, the screws stripped out the threads in the mast step and one of them broke off a corner of it. If you need a new step, you can find it in the link above.