Broken mast foot

[TheMonk]

Hello all, I took the boat out last weekend into Pittwater/Broken Bay, Sydney, where it was blowing +25 knots. Anyway, on pulling her out we found the mast foot had broken.

The piece in question is cast alloy, positioned at the base of the mast and attached to the mast. The two holes inwhich the pivot pin is inserted is what failed. This footing may be original, however the mast step on the cabin top is stainless steel and looks after-market and differs from images I can see posted here on this site.

I will hopefully contact Bob Keeley, as suggested in other posts, in an attempt to get a
stainless replacement manufactured by him to replace the damaged one.

Anyway, perhaps others may have experienced this issue but it's worth putting it out there as possibly something to keep an eye on.

Incidently, the little Investigator handled the blow very well, fully reefed down, it made for an exciting couple of hours. I hope to put some footage on YouTube soon. Regards, John.

[Yara50]

John, I think I have one of those fittings if you luck out with Bob Keeley.

[TheMonk]

Thanks anyway Ian, I got onto Bob Keeley and he has just manufactured a few just days before! He's a very helpful chap and advised me why the breakage probably occurred. John.

[geoffr]

Hi John:

Your previous answer leaves us all hanging on the obvious question: what did Bob attribute the break to?

Thanks,

[Mark]

What was the cost of the replacement part?

Cheers

[Yara50]

Not sure what Bob Keeley would say, but my take is that the castings are quite brittle, and it is important to mount them on a perfectly flat surface. WRT the loop for the boom vang, just not strong enough in tension.

[Mark]

Re Ian's lat comment:

I posted an earlier piece when my vang connection point failed. This made me think the casting was brittle. I repositioned the Vang connection to the bottom of the mast and all seems fine. Not not the one in the photo posted in the below link but I instead placed a connection covering the hole you see in my lower mast. I had to tap the screws in and its rock solid and been in use now for months. Il post a photo when i find one.

Here is the link to the previous post http://www.investigator563.com/forum/vi ... 10&start=0

[TheMonk]

So, Bob reckons the break was as a result of the mast foot, described by Bob as the plug, not being flush with the base. He suggested a teak wedge to absorb the rake in the mast, this helps ensure a constant pressure on the foot.

I didn't ask him about the price of the part, I have to get it. I'm yet to remove it actually, I might mail the old one down to him to make sure it's the correct animal.

I'll post an update when I proceed. John

[Yara50]

John
I found the spare mast plug, so if you havent ordered your new one from Bob Keeley yet, you can have this one for free. It is part of the complete set that I got from Bob a couple of years ago, but my original was still OK.