Spliced Mast

[ChiliPepper534]

Hello, I own #534 but the mast I currently have is from an 80’s hull. It’s a long story how this came to be but I do have some questions about the setup that I have. The mast has been spliced in the past, it is a very good repair and I definitely trust it. I am wondering how this will affect performance being that it is spliced. Also, when the yard repaired the mast they “lost” the mast shoe (half round at the base) and now all I have is a plate that covers the bottom of the extrusion. I measured my current mast against a “new mast” complete with the shoe, and from masthead plate to pivot pin it was within 3/8” so I’m assuming the height is fine. What I would like to know about this is if the flat base will have any further impact on tuning. We have not stepped the mast on the boat yet as other repairs are still underway. Thank you for any input!

[reidmefirst]

The lack of rounded shoe will make it more fun to get the mast up and down. If the height is fine though...*shrug*. I am not smart enough to know whether a rounded mast base makes any difference in rig power as you're tuning the shrouds. Might be though, if the mast is able to 'lean' back on the rounded shoe to provide more forestay tension with less shroud tension.

Some fellow is selling an original aluminum mast base on the classifieds section: https://s279.org/Main/boatsforsal.html. One of the old fellas in the class also has engineering drawings for a lot of the mast parts if you want to machine a new one. And another option might be to try Offshore Spars. They make the new class masts, they might be able to fab up a base too. They might even have the engineering drawings already.

If it were me, I'd try and get an official mast base just because...