28 CK mast cap questions

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SFBaysailor
Posts: 71
Joined: Sun Apr 29, 2018 10:12 am

28 CK mast cap questions

Post by SFBaysailor »

Hello, all.

Haven’t been to the top of my masts yet, but my son took some drone shots for me. I have a couple questions...

1. How are the caps held in? I don’t see any obvious fasteners.

2. Are there conduits of some kind inside the masts? What happens to the wires when they go through those openings?

Thanks-Jeff
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newt2u
Posts: 236
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2019 11:24 am
Location: UK

Re: 28 CK mast cap questions

Post by newt2u »

Hi Jeff,

I do not own an F28 and on my F21 the mast cap is not structural. However, I have been up and/or had down similar masts to yours. The cap piece will have a tube below the flat cap that fits down some way inside the mast top, this allows for any uneven stress from rigging or halliards front to back. In your first photo it is clear that there is also a vertical strengthener that slots in grooves in the top of the mast. I had this on one boat but not on the other, which relied on the oval section to withstand torsion forces. Both had rivets through the mast and cap tube, although I know of people who have welded on mast caps. A picture side on just below the mast ought to show which you have.

It is common for masts to have conduits installed to stop cables flapping about and to avoid getting snagged on in-mast standing rigging. I have mast head lights and VHF on any F21 and it does not have any conduits, the wires just go down the mast along with main and spinnaker halliard and exit just above the base through a couple of small holes.

What do you want to do?

Chris
Rockin - F21 twin drop keels - located Whitehaven, Cumbria, UK

andygc
Posts: 92
Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2016 4:33 pm

Re: 28 CK mast cap questions

Post by andygc »

Hi Jeff

The stub of the mast cap is bonded into the mast. I didn't think to see how far into the mast the stub goes when I had the masts down - but it was pretty obvious that trying to take it out would be a bad idea.

There are no conduits - there's no internal rigging for the cables to interfere with. If you want to stop the wires rattling the easy cure is to slide pipe insulation all the way up the wires - works a treat.

Your selection of blocks up there looks rather odd.

Andy
Sold for health reasons :(

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