F33 Cat Ketch Mast Breakage.

Posted by Richard (rrsteward@…>)

Thanks to those who replied to my first message and to answer
requests for more information here it is:-
The CF mast was made by Tilotson and Pearson USA in 1980. When I
bought the boat in 2000 I noticed that the main mast had a 4 inch
bend towards the stern, even with the boom supported. No one was
concerened about this including my surveyor. However this may have
indicated some weakning! The mast also had a number of horizontal
cracks which I was assured were cosmetic only. The breakage occured
on Friday 13th August 2004 whilst beating into 28 Knots and a 7 to 9
foot sea. Twenty minutes before I had taken the mizzen down and
started the engine to ease the handeling and give better steerage. My
next move would have been to reef the main but events overtook me.
About 10 seconds after I tacked I was pushed 90 degrees to the wind
and then a loud crack and the mast and sail fell gracefully into the
sea. Very Sad! The mast had broken at the bridle point some 7.5 feet
above the deck. It is my view that the mast did not have sufficient
radial strength to take the pressure at the bridle point in the
prevailing conditions. To all those with T&P 1980 masts who are
caught in these conditions, reef early of if you can’t SLACKEN THE
OUTHALL it may save you mast!

Posted by Manrique Feoli (manrique.feoli@…>)

Hello Richard,

Thanks for sharing your experience it is extremelly valuable to us all out there, Im sorry to keep bothering you about this I just have a few more questions

Was the 4 inch bend of your mast at the same point of the breakage?

Do you have wishbones or was it boom converted ? if the latter does the mast have any drilled or screwed added things to it?

I am not familiar the the term “bridle point” (probably due to language differences), is it at the hight where the wishbone ussually holds?.

thanks

Manrique

-----Original Message-----From: Richard [mailto:rrsteward@…]Sent: lunes, 13 de septiembre de 2004 9:35To: freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.comSubject: [freedomyachts2003] F33 Cat Ketch Mast Breakage.Thanks to those who replied to my first message and to answer requests for more information here it is:-The CF mast was made by Tilotson and Pearson USA in 1980. When I bought the boat in 2000 I noticed that the main mast had a 4 inch bend towards the stern, even with the boom supported. No one was concerened about this including my surveyor. However this may have indicated some weakning! The mast also had a number of horizontal cracks which I was assured were cosmetic only. The breakage occured on Friday 13th August 2004 whilst beating into 28 Knots and a 7 to 9 foot sea. Twenty minutes before I had taken the mizzen down and started the engine to ease the handeling and give better steerage. My next move would have been to reef the main but events overtook me. About 10 seconds after I tacked I was pushed 90 degrees to the wind and then a loud crack and the mast and sail fell gracefully into the sea. Very Sad! The mast had broken at the bridle point some 7.5 feet above the deck. It is my view that the mast did not have sufficient radial strength to take the pressure at the bridle point in the prevailing conditions. To all those with T&P 1980 masts who are caught in these conditions, reef early of if you can’t SLACKEN THE OUTHALL it may save you mast!

Posted by Larry Powers (lapowers57@…>)

Maybe someone can comment on this:

From: “Richard” <rrsteward@…>
Subject: [freedomyachts2003] F33 Cat Ketch Mast Breakage.

The CF mast was made by Tilotson and Pearson USA in 1980. When I
bought the boat in 2000 I noticed that the main mast had a 4 inch
bend towards the stern, even with the boom supported. No one was
concerened about this including my surveyor. However this may have
indicated some weakning!

I have an 82 F33 and both masts have a slight bend to the stern. I have
attributed this to being a bit of built in rake. Does anyone know if the
masts were originally built with any rake in them or were they perfectly
straight?


Get ready for school! Find articles, homework help and more in the Back to
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Posted by Manrique Feoli (manrique.feoli@…>)

FYI, in mine, F33, 1980, hull no 19, both masts are straight (no bends)

-----Original Message-----From: Larry Powers [mailto:lapowers57@…]Sent: lunes, 13 de septiembre de 2004 10:46To: freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.comSubject: RE: [freedomyachts2003] F33 Cat Ketch Mast Breakage.Maybe someone can comment on this:>From: “Richard” <rrsteward@…>>Subject: [freedomyachts2003] F33 Cat Ketch Mast Breakage.>The CF mast was made by Tilotson and Pearson USA in 1980. When I>bought the boat in 2000 I noticed that the main mast had a 4 inch>bend towards the stern, even with the boom supported. No one was>concerened about this including my surveyor. However this may have>indicated some weakning!I have an 82 F33 and both masts have a slight bend to the stern. I have attributed this to being a bit of built in rake. Does anyone know if the masts were originally built with any rake in them or were they perfectly straight?_________________________________________________________________Get ready for school! Find articles, homework help and more in the Back to School Guide! http://special.msn.com/network/04backtoschool.armx

Posted by Richard (rrsteward@…>)

Hallo Manrique,
The bend was a gradual 4 inch curvature over the whole length of the
mast. There was no particular area of increased curvature. The bridle
point is point at which the wishbone bridle makes contact with the
mast, an area of about 25 square inches. This point has to take the
entire sail outhall load and is the point at which my mast collapsed
inwards. There were no holes in the mast except those for the
wishbone hoist eye plate some 4.8 feet above the break. There were no
cracks near this plate.
Richard

Posted by mike_c_f35ck (mike_c_f35ck@…>)

These masts were built straight like lampposts. Overtime, some
undesired pre-bend will ‘grow’ in, because of the weight of the boom
and the tension on the sheet when the sails are stowed. Apparently,
even CF masts suffer from his. I have alu masts on my F33/35 ck and
especially my main mast has a lot of pre-bend after 18 years of
service. I’m considering now to move the wishbone hoist deadeye and
swap the top plate so I can turn the mast 180 degrees and the pre-
bend is oriented forward.

On Lasers, we were very keen on preventing pre-bend. We marked the
fore/aft position of the two mast sections and swapped fore and aft
every time we went for a sail to compensate for the possible pre-bend
that may have resulted from the previous sail.



— In freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.com, “Larry Powers”
<lapowers57@h…> wrote:

Maybe someone can comment on this:

From: “Richard” <rrsteward@o…>
Subject: [freedomyachts2003] F33 Cat Ketch Mast Breakage.

The CF mast was made by Tilotson and Pearson USA in 1980. When I
bought the boat in 2000 I noticed that the main mast had a 4 inch
bend towards the stern, even with the boom supported. No one was
concerened about this including my surveyor. However this may have
indicated some weakning!

I have an 82 F33 and both masts have a slight bend to the stern. I
have
attributed this to being a bit of built in rake. Does anyone know
if the
masts were originally built with any rake in them or were they
perfectly
straight?


Get ready for school! Find articles, homework help and more in the
Back to
School Guide! http://special.msn.com/network/04backtoschool.armx

Posted by gcantori (gcantori@…>)

Now that you lost that mast - What are your plans to replace it?
Will you also replace the remaining mast? If you could keep us
updated on your progress, including the inevitable hassles and even
the costs, that would be very helpful!
Best wishes

Posted by Frank Minelli (myslo@…>)
suggest you check the archive of this group, there are lots of entries on this subject, and you can learn a lot there.gcantori <gcantori@…> wrote:
Now that you lost that mast - What are your plans to replace it? Will you also replace the remaining mast? If you could keep us updated on your progress, including the inevitable hassles and even the costs, that would be very helpful! Best wishes

Posted by John Chille (squeaks47@…>)

Richard:
Unfortunate happenings with your broken mast. I am playing with ideas here for a project of mine, so I am wondering if the remains of your broken mast is still useable (for a shorter rig)? If so, what length remains? Diameter (& wall thickness) at the break point? And is there sail track (or other) mounted.
Don’t want to be a pest in your windy woes. Hope all else is fair and flying well.
John
Sloop Babe,
Alameda, CA

----- Original Message -----
From: Richard
To: freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, September 13, 2004 8:35 AM
Subject: [freedomyachts2003] F33 Cat Ketch Mast Breakage.
Thanks to those who replied to my first message and to answer requests for more information here it is:-The CF mast was made by Tilotson and Pearson USA in 1980. When I bought the boat in 2000 I noticed that the main mast had a 4 inch bend towards the stern, even with the boom supported. No one was concerened about this including my surveyor. However this may have indicated some weakning! The mast also had a number of horizontal cracks which I was assured were cosmetic only. The breakage occured on Friday 13th August 2004 whilst beating into 28 Knots and a 7 to 9 foot sea. Twenty minutes before I had taken the mizzen down and started the engine to ease the handeling and give better steerage. My next move would have been to reef the main but events overtook me. About 10 seconds after I tacked I was pushed 90 degrees to the wind and then a loud crack and the mast and sail fell gracefully into the sea. Very Sad! The mast had broken at the bridle point some 7.5 feet above the deck. It is my view that the mast did not have sufficient radial strength to take the pressure at the bridle point in the prevailing conditions. To all those with T&P 1980 masts who are caught in these conditions, reef early of if you can’t SLACKEN THE OUTHALL it may save you mast!