Hi folks just bought some second hand equipment. Want to cut a fibreglass mast in half to make it easier to transport . Any advice please ? Thanks
Cutting n joining will prove to be very hard n the end result a waste of time. Mast wont suit modern sails. Ive rebuilt a broken ferrule 100%C 550 sdm. Easy enough to epoxy a spigot in the lower section. Easy enough to wrap the upper section in carbon. But without a lathe or similar to support it whilst doing it all, VERY hard to align both pieces to achieve a perfectly STRAIGHT mast once put together. I ended up with about 8mm runout at the tip. Took many hours of sanding n re epoxying n sanding to get it down to 8mm runout.
I agree, too hard and carbon 2 piece has been out for so long you could find one for nothing possibly
What size?
I had a one piece mast in excellent condition from the early 1990s. It was a Neil Pryde Carbon 60 Constant Flex 460 cm weighing 1.75 kg and in excellent condition. These masts were made by Fiberspar in the US for NP.
I asked Brett Morris of Slake if it is feasible to convert the mast to a two piece ?
He said: "you can, but not sure if worth the work and ultimately cost involved.
Roughly speaking the process is a simple as cutting in half and creating a sleeve/ferrule using a carbon tube that fits inside perfectly. This really depends on the amount of taper, as the new ferrule will probably require machining to fit correctly.
Sounds easy, but it will have enough time that the cost will build up to the point it is cheaper and easier to buy a new mast. A 60% carbon mast these days is quite good value I believe."
I sold the mast.
Anybody even making one piece masts anymore?
A used one piece mast has to be so old that I'd be afraid to use it, use it for a flag pole, you just may be able to avoid a long swim, dragging what's left of your stuff.