Hello, Our friends (not Freedom owners) needed to replace their mast the other week as cracks had appeared in theirs and without one, the boat couldnt do the 2009 Fastnet Race. The cost was around £5000. It made me wonder where on earth we would get a new mast if ‘god forbid’ we ever needed one! Crossjack is a Freedom 33 based in Southampton in the UK and the mast isnt carbon fibre. Any ideas?
I don’t know if it is true, but I have heard of people using aluminium telegraph poles. Best advice though is not to need a replacement…
Hey Marno,
Ours are schedule 40 aluminum pipe with tapered flag poles stuck in them. That’s how they were done prior to the carbon fiber ones. They show no signs of giving up the ghost.
George
Carbospars in Southampton (UK) can build carbon fiber Freedom masts. I asked them for a quote years ago. Forgot what they quoted. In the Netherlands, I asked a producer of street lamp posts if they could build tapered freestanding aluminium masts and yes, they could, if they had the specs and metallurgic recipe of the masts.
EDIT: Carbospars does not exist anymore. Quality problems with aerorigs and bad management did them in, so it seems. But there must be other producers of tapered round section CF masts in the UK. If not there, in the Netherlands there are several.
Masts can be repaired
Hi
You can get new tapered alloy masts from Needlespar in the UK, “18 ft to 55 ft, anodised black or silver. Each mast is hand-crafted and tailored to your exact design and requirements”. No web site known, but their phone no. is +44 2392 463864 or email Needlespar@hawkmarineproducts.com
They advertise in the Junk Rig Association’s (www.junkrigs.com) paper magazine and mainly supply through Sunbird Yachts (www.sunbirdmarine.com). Sunbird have re-rigged several Freedom 30s and 35s as junks.
Brian Kerslake
F39PHS ‘Paradox’
Brighton UK
Hi All,
Appeciate your replies… Humm - an aluminium telegraph pole, not sure whether you are having me on here?? Does that mean I would pop down the local council to ask if they have any spare ones! 
or would a mast producer be able to fashion one together? If no one has ever had to replace one, they must be good eh!
We are pretty careful and reef whenever the winds strengthen, but as we all know the bends in the mast can be pretty amazing even in just a F4.
The mast is due to come out next year as part of our 5 year MCA safety coding - lets just keep fingers crossed that nothing untowards arises…
Emma
Edit: just getting used to doing forums. Ignore my bit about asking a mast producer to build one. Its already been answered. Thanks All…
I wasn’t kidding about how ours are made BTW.
This one is not ours but you can see the straight pipe, then a little transition cone going to the flag pole portion.
George
I had the same construction of aluminum masts on my UK built F33/35 catketch. However, on the inside, there is a third section going up several yards into the top tapered section. So including the transition cone the masts consists of four pieces. It looked as if someone had thought about it really well, because the length of the sections is different for the main and the mizzen mast. Total mast length is the same on both masts, but because the mizzen sits deeper, the outside section is longer on the mizzen. They really tried to get the bending on both masts at the same points above deck.
Yes! Thanks Michel, that’s correct for our masts as well. There is a machined aluminum inner transition. The method of combining upper and lower, as it has been described to me, involves a forklift and some rather low technology application of force.
George
As I’ve mentioned, the PO broke the original aluminium mainmast on Castaway. It wasn’t apparently, violent or spectacular: the mast just flopped inside the sail. He said it was due to a strangely cut sail, not any violence such as collision. The UK masts were built by Proctors, and we still have the original mizzen. The inner sleeve, in the lower part, is a very close fit, and also held in by a lot of stainless steel machine screws threaded into the aluminium; there until the corrosion rots the entire mast, I think. They stick well into the interior of the mast, which makes passing wires internally a frustrating source of invective!
The mast is tapered along its length, with no step at the join, and the crane at the top is welded in place. It is the same length as the new main, a CF spar made in the USA by T.P., and imported specially. (He must have had very understanding insurers!) The aluminium mast is nearly twice the weight of the CF one, and smaller in diameter by about 1 inch (2.5cm) at the heel. It is my impression that it is a mite less flexible, too. George, the PO, told me he had once got into a wind acceleration zone in the Canaries, with a staysail set, and the running backstay broke; He said the bend was spectacular, but nothing broke during the minute or two it took to drop the staysail.
I’d love to have a replacement CF spar, but suspect the cost would be at least £10000. An F35 recently sold in the UK for about three times that, with two CF masts! I think there is a firm at Caley Marina in Inverness which makes CF masts, if ever your insurers are looking for a manufacturer. It probably would be as expensive to get a one off tapered aluminium mast made as a CF one.
Look after those spars, but I doubt if you could break one just by sailing with the usual wrap around sails, in any weather.
Gerald
Let me guess…‘some rather low technology application of force’: a sledgehammer?
Gerald, in 1997 I asked Carbospars what a CF mast for an F33/35 catketch would cost. They quoted UKP 4000, if I remember well. This quote was backed by Brian Butler of Ancasta as being a fair quote. Brian was the most Freedom knowledgeable person in the UK at the time.
i need a repair on a f39 mast . The mast seems like it was broken just above the deck where the mainsail is. It was broken by Sea Tow after a storm when she broke loose from her moring in Port Jefferson harbor New York . the sea tow guy attached a line to the mast to right the boat off the beach when he snapped the mast off the boat. well thats the story I was told by the managment at the boatyad . Now I bought the boat and about 6 feet of the bottom of the mast is missing and the step plate to mount it in the bilge wih I have no idea what it looks like I would greatly appreciate a picture of the mounting plate for the masts I think there both missing! I have alot of work ahead of me I know so please help me.
Hello Arthur,
I had my 2 masts replaced on my 39PH after meeting hurricane Jane in 2005.
I measured all dimensions of the broken masts and kept the main parts to draw plans of the replacements
I asked several carbon spar builders for quotes, and Ted Van Dusen http://www.vandusenracingboats.com/spars.html had the best product and price (17.000$ for the main and 12.000$ for the forward mast). The new masts are significantly lighter than the original ones.
The construction technique is quite sophisticated when compared with the original mast: the new masts are “woven” in one piece, put in an autoclave for a while, etc. No circular cracking as on the original masts (I previously owned a F33 wich masts had circular cracks all the way up; this was strictly cosmetic… Same with the original 39PH masts)
I have more details (VISIO CAD files) if you want to join to your quote requests. if you are interested, let me know. Good luck!
yes I have decided to repair my CF mast with aluminun . I found a flag pole manufacturer right next door to my town in Port Jefferson New York that can and has done it before the only dimension I need is the mast lenght for a 39Ph catch schooner made in 1982 ! If any one can relay that infomation to me I would be greatly appreciative to them .
I still have to figure out a design for the mounting steps to secure the bottom of the mast in the bilge. I also have to make up a design to hold the for mast in pace up in the bow as someone has stolen both peices .
Hi Arthur,
Here are the plans I submitted to have new masts made for my 1983 PH39.
PH39 Visio-Bases de mat.pdf (34.6 KB)
In addition, you will find the “keelsteps” drawings for both masts.
PH39 Keelstep main.pdf (26 KB)
PH39 Keelstep forward.pdf (27.2 KB)
These steps are bolted on the bottom and the masts simply slide on it. A single bolt on each mast keep it from lift off the steps when sails are down.
Hope this will help
Alain
And here is the PH39 masts and sailplan dimensions
PH39 Sailplan.pdf (23.1 KB)
thank You very much .Alain as soon as I can download this information I willArthur.
Can someone tell me what the length of the main mast is for a FREEDOM 39PH SCHOONER , mine is broken and i,m going to insert an aluminum pipe into the botom of it as i bought it with the broken mast and two missing booms wich i aslo have to construct .
I would greatly apreciate some feed back on this subject as i am wanting to put her in the water in april 2011. boom lengths would aslo be nice and some rigging tips thanks in advance for sending that data on the sails to my sail maker mr wedikind here in port jefferson New York
my sail makers email is wedikindsail@juno.com I am truly looking forward to sailing this comming summer folks
thanks ARTHUR himself