I have noticed an ominous horizontal hairline in my mast at boom height going 75 % of the circumference. Is this a serious problem???
Photos attached.
Philip,
Looks like you repainted the mast in the past or somebody else did. I dont see anyway to check out the problem other than striping the surface and see how far it goes into the mast. Could be the filler just cracked because it was to thick. Good luck. Regards Numbknots
Just purchased the boat so I don’t know the history. This probably got past the surveyor, I certainly didn’t notice it at the time. Any idea on the how these masts are constructed…would one expect a horizontal hairline crack like this?
Yes, hairline cracks are normal for freedom masts. It has been discussed at great length at freedom yahoo group.
Philip,
Your hairline crack looks different from the normal Freedom cracks which are usually all over the place. If you have no other horizontal hairline cracks that means your mast is repainted with a good product providing the necessary elasticity to keep the cracks under the surface.
Your crack seems related to the slab of carbon fiber put around the mast to reinforce the gooseneck area. I would watch it carefully and perhaps open up a small portion of the crack to see where it goes. The gooseneck attachment slab is known to detach from the mast occasionally. Fortunately, carbon fiber is easily repaired.
Good luck
I hope it is not serious… When we bought our 1987 F 36/38 in 1992 the surveyor told me that was a crack in the fairing at the gooseneck fitting. Said it was of no consequence. My mast, now 22 years old, has not yet broken. Let us know if you investigate further…
Happy sailing
Kerry Nevins
Gloucester Point, VA
Phew…doesn’t sound too bad. I will try to find that yahoo forum discussion. Thank you for the comments.
I’m looking at purchasing a F25. The mast seems to be nothing but cracks!
The seller says this is perfectly natural for Freedom masts. I wonder what the surveyor will say?
Hopefully this is just all surface weathering, and the mast itself is still good. Hate to think of the cost of replacing one if it ever decided to give up the ghost. Is there any way to tell of a carbon fiber mast is in poor shape other than having it x-rayed?
Are the cracks to a round mast, or a wing mast? My '82 wing mast had no cracks, except at the filler that faired in the thickened band where the gooseneck attached.
This is a 1984 round mast boat.
Note that virtually all of the Yahoo groups discussions are archived here.
– Geoff
I have a 1984 F25, Hull # 206. My mast looks very similar, but I would say the cracks in the photo you’ve attached appear to be longer and deeper than the cracks on mine. I’m pretty sure the cracks in mine are only in the surface coating, which I think may be Awlgrip. I wonder if the boat you are looking at may merely have somewhat thicker coat of Awlgrip on it?
The cracks may just be in the glass wrapping around the carbon fibre that may be due to uv deteriorating the glass and epoxy.
Although this looks different to the normal cracking, probably due to the mast being refinished, it is probably of the same nature and cosmetic in nature. The following is an excerpt from a letter sent from Freedom to a Freedom 40 owner on this matter.
The carbon fiber masts of this vintage commonly cracked in a concentric pattern at different points on the masts. These cracks have not proven to be of any structural concern. They reflect a difference in the deflective properties of the mast and the thick mast fairing compound referred to as “mud coat”. The mud coat is thicker and less flexible than the mast which lead to the cracks you see now.
The masts never needed more maintenance than a periodic waxing however they can be painted with any linear polyurethane such as Awl Grip or Imron to enhance their appearance.
Anyone wanting a copy of this letter can PM me…
Does anyone have suggestions on how to repair these cracks - by which I mean make them look good cosmetically?
If I simply repaint I’m guessing it won’t take long for the cracks to show up again in the new finish.
How can I get rid of the old finish? I’m kind of scared sanding might damage the carbon fiber beneath the coating if I’m not careful, and that a paint stripper might also damage the structural part of the mast. Or are these masts so tough that you could sand blast the outer layer right off with no effect on the mast itself?
Any suggestions on a good quality finish that is elastic enough not to crack on a mast that flexes as much as the Freedoms do? I have been told to do white rather than black, as it will soak up less summer sun and result in less expansion and contraction of the finish.
Thank for all the feedback.
R Bush,
I dont know if you read my post on refinishing cb masts I posted it a couple months ago. Check my posts as I made all the necessary mistakes needed to do a good job and you can benefit from them without the F#*^“+NG heartaches. I want to tell you this, and I cant empasize it enough, dont bother painting these masts if you arent going to at least rewrap them with fiberglass 2” bias ply tape and epoxy. (Wrap them top to bottom then the reverse directon. Or pull a fiberglass “sock” over the whole mast. I did both.) They will recrack exactly where they are cracked now if you don’t.
All that expensive LP paint is wasted not to mention the time involved sanding out and filling the cracks with “mud”. Also having the lesson retaught again about doing it right the first time will only add insult to a depleted bank accojnt. Numbknots
numbknots,
Maybe I just over looked it but, going over your six pages of posts, I could not find your thread on refinishing cb masts. Is ther any way you could post a link?
Thanks,
Seems like I posted this in another area but I will find that later. One post is under Everything else. titled “looking for info on painting masts” in the blog of JMD00. Try that it doesn’t say much more than what I posted earlier above but have a go. Good luck. Numbknots
RB,
The other post is under “sails for freedom ck” pg 4 quite a few replys for this topic and it wanders a bit in subject. I was yaking about repair of my broken mast blah, blah, blah. I beleive back a few yrs ago Sponberg quoted me 5k to repair mast or rewrap one and no garantee. “Do you feel lucky?”. It is very labor intensive. If you decide to wrap them let me know I still have some 2" tape you can have but the "sock deal works better and is easier if done with at least 2 or 3 people. As usual you figure out how to do it an easier way once your finished. If you decide to use the sock method contact me and I will go over that with you as we came up with a couple tricks to pull the sock over an epoxy wetted mast.
Was just thinking that for every gallon of epoxy used you will some how spend 1,000 usd. in the final repair cost. Some strange rule of marine economics.
Numbknots
Thought I had a post from Eric Sponberg concerning mast cracks but I can’t find it.
The problem seems to be for the most part in the glass applied over the carbon, not the carbon.