Busted mast!

[danfish]

You sound like you have some engineering/fabricating background.?

Yep, aircraft maintenance engineer. Holes in aluminium are my specialty.

As it is I've priced a hobie kayak 2pc mast, and I might go that way. For $130 it seems like good value, and better than ali tube. I somehow thought one of those would be about $300. Most Hobie stuff is pretty expensive.

That sounds like the go. How big is it and what is it made of?

Dan

[sport]

I concur with the attitude that life aint’t worth living without risks and empathize with goanywhere on the busted mast front. I’ve had that visit me recently in similar circumstances. That is trying out a prototype sail, my take on a wingsail using a recyc. sail board mast. My problem was the snapping of mast to steep connecting rod required because of the very narrow mast steep on my yak. Admittedly it was only made of electrical conduit with a snug fitting timber dowel through it. You might all be saying well that was never gonna fly . Anyway I gave it a go and it did for awhile, fortunately I was only on the Maroochy River, so an easy exit. When I’ve got time that fits with some decent weather I’ll give it another go with a beefed up steep- mast connecting rod. But it does make me wonder just how much stress the mast steep can stand on a Hobie Sport?

[goanywhere]

But it does make me wonder just how much stress the mast steep can stand on a Hobie Sport?

With what i've read about hobies cracking lately, I would be concerned about the mast step cracking the hull before the mast giving way. I'd rather have a busted mast than a cracked and leaking hull. Plastics have a heap of strength when new but they do become brittle over time, and not that much time at that. I think that's why alot of kayak sails have demountable steps strapped on rather than a through-the-deck mast step.