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I had a chance to help a fellow club member unstep his mast a couple of weeks ago and thought the experience might be of interest to the group. The boat was similar to the 424 in that it had a keel stepped mast. I think it was a Valiant-40, but it may have been an Endeavor. The owner hadn’t pulled his mast for the past 18 years, so he expected some difficulty. He hired a rigger with crane to come next to the pier for the job. The rigger made sure that the line used to lift the spar was very well attached to the mast, and proceeded to pull the mast, boat and all out of the water about 8 inches. This was as high as the 7-ton limiter on the crane would allow. I was standing on the deck holding the furler during this maneuver and found it very unsettling. Attempts to free the spar using PB-Blaster, heat, and hammer all failed. After repeated attempts over a 90 minute period failed, the owner cut the bottom of the mast off with a sawsall. He plans to raise the mast step
by th
e length he cut off. It is unclear that his mast step is salvageable. By the time he gets this fixed, much of the summer will likely pass.Like the 424, his mast step is made of steel. When exposed to seawater, the metal expands. Aluminum forms a chemical bond with steel as it corrodes. The result is a vice-like grip on the base of the mast.
If your mast hasn’t been pulled in several years you should expect trouble. Soaking the step in PB-Blaster for several days prior to pulling the mast may help. Even penetrating oil won’t dislodge the mast if the step has swollen.
Rich Carter
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Strongly urge you contact Dick Conti at DC Prodcuts via (). He has benn refabricating Pearson mast steps for years out of aluminum and charges less than Rig-Rite, the firm that bought Matal Mast where Dick had been the manager.
Dick and his new partner build steps with risers to compensate for sawed off portions of masts and has other good advice for dealing with the problem of steel to aluminum corrosion.
Norris Larosn on
Easy Reach, #206, ketch rigged and now with a Solent stay.
— On Fri, 6/6/08, <> wrote:
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