Hi
I am currently in the market for another sailboat and am considering
the purchase of a Freedom yacht, approx. 30-35 ft & 15-20 years old.
However, I don’t want to end up with a lot of problems. All advice on
weak points, areas of special attention, etc are appreciated. Of
course, a survey would be mandatory.
One area of concern is the carbon mast. Are there any reports of
weakness or failure on older models??
I’ve read this board off and on for three years or so and the only mast problem I recall was the guy who ran into the railroad bridge, although I’m not even certain it was a Freedom. My F-30 has been very good, nothing but routine maintenance.
I just wish we had wind on the sound like the Cheasapeake guys had.
Kent Holden
Breakaway
Connecticut
Hi
I am currently in the market for another sailboat and am considering
the purchase of a Freedom yacht, approx. 30-35 ft & 15-20 years old.
However, I don’t want to end up with a lot of problems. All advice on
weak points, areas of special attention, etc are appreciated. Of
course, a survey would be mandatory.
One area of concern is the carbon mast. Are there any reports of
weakness or failure on older models??
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I’ve only owned my 1987 Freedom 30 for about 18 months, but I spent a fair amount of time looking into the carbon fiber mast issue before I bought. The failure rate does not seem to be any higher than for aluminum masts and the things that can cause problems are fairly obvious to a skilled surveyor. Perhaps they last so long because owners are scared to put any holes in them.
As to other areas to look at, I have taken much of the interior of my boat apart and I’ve been very impressed with the quality of construction (and my prior boat and standard in this area was a Sabre). The only issue that everyone reports is that Freedom sometimes put deck fittings into cored areas of the deck that were not filled with epoxy first. However, they were very liberal in their application of caulking, so I’ve only found one very small spot where the core was wet. The Mull boats, and possibly others, had all of their through hulls through solid glass, so the cored hull should not be an issue.
I’ve upgraded my boat since I bought it, but virtually nothing that I replaced was “broken,” just old.
Al Lorman
F30 Ab Initio
-----Original Message-----From: freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.com [mailto:freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of jdmardlinSent: Tuesday, September 06, 2005 10:02 PMTo: freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.comSubject: [freedomyachts2003] Mast problemsHiI am currently in the market for another sailboat and am consideringthe purchase of a Freedom yacht, approx. 30-35 ft & 15-20 years old.However, I don’t want to end up with a lot of problems. All advice onweak points, areas of special attention, etc are appreciated. Ofcourse, a survey would be mandatory.One area of concern is the carbon mast. Are there any reports ofweakness or failure on older models??Any help in answering my question is appreciated.JDIRS CIRCULAR 230 NOTICE. Any advice expressed above as to tax matters was neither written nor intended by the sender or Mayer, Brown, Rowe Maw LLP to be used and cannot be used by any taxpayer for the purpose of avoiding tax penalties that may be imposed under U.S. tax law. If any person uses or refers to any such tax advice in promoting, marketing or recommending a partnership or other entity, investment plan or arrangement to any taxpayer, then (i) the advice was written to support the promotion or marketing (by a person other than Mayer, Brown, Rowe Maw LLP) of that transaction or matter, and (ii) such taxpayer should seek advice based on the taxpayers particular circumstances from an independent tax advisorThis email and any files transmitted with it are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail.
My F40 is 25 years old this year and the masts (which have a few holes
in them for the sail track, the radar cable, and the steaming light)
seem to be going just fine. Carbon fiber masts do break, usually the
result of some abuse like a hard grounding, mishandling during
removal, or potentially a lightning strike. Here’s two salient points,
though. First, a carbon mast these days can be repaired to be just as
strong as (if not stronger than) the original mast. I’m not sure I’d
trust an aluminum mast that had been ‘sleeved,’ if - and it’s a
pretty big “if” - it can even be straightened enough to repair.
Secondly, a Freedom’s carbon mast is free-standing, and is built to be free-standing, meaning there’s really nothing on the rig itself
to fail. An aluminum mast (or a stayed carbon mast, for that matter)
has all those swages, standing rigging, etc., any one of which can
mean bye bye mast.
Hi
I am currently in the market for another sailboat and am considering
the purchase of a Freedom yacht, approx. 30-35 ft & 15-20 years old.
However, I don’t want to end up with a lot of problems. All advice on
weak points, areas of special attention, etc are appreciated. Of
course, a survey would be mandatory.
One area of concern is the carbon mast. Are there any reports of
weakness or failure on older models??