117 posts
Hi! I've had 4 mast failures with this sail. North sails platinium 20 cm above boom
Nort sails gold 10 cm under boom
Reptile mamba 80% carbon middle joint
Sailloft 75% carbon middle joint
every mast has the correct bend curve and Imcs number.
I've had great experience with these brands in the past but it seems strange to me that three different brands fail like this. Anyone has experience with this sail?
1777 posts
Where do the cams sit relative to the breaks?
2776 posts
When do they break?, with that many different brands breaking it sounds like it may be technique related.
QLD
4950 posts
The North Ram F11 , F12 and F13 have a massive luff curve with huge amounts of downhaul . They are notoriously THE mast breaking sail of that era . Good sails though . Back in the day people asked , "how many masts have I broken '? , so its a thing . I've owned many in that age group and never broke a mast and I'm heavy . Lucky I guess . I used North platinum masts in the smaller sizes and NP X6 in the larger sizes , ( 490 ) .
PS ; Check inside the luff pocket that the inner sail panel has not broken . That also happens and could be the culprit .
WA
543 posts
As noted above, the North sails from the 'teens, along with NP, were just notorious for breaking masts. The breaks you describe are typical - located around the transition from the relatively soft top to the relatively stout bottom sections, and almost everyone who raced those setups (they were very fast) broke several masts just while sailing normally powered.
You can do a few things to help. First, you'll probably like the sail a lot more for freeriding if you use a slightly softer mast than spec. It'll downhaul easier, pump easier, and it's a pretty flat sail anyhow. Second, never ever leave the sail under tension in the sun for more than a few minutes. Gently let out on downhaul whenever you take a break.
117 posts
Ok, thank you for the responses!!
2776 posts
If Awalkspoiled is correct, I would get ride of the sail!, why risk breaking another mast?
102 posts
he is completely right.
My friend and trainingspartner Jannis (RAM F11-13) destroyed several masts in this stupid sails.
NS Platinum & Gold & Gun 100% and bended even a Slake custom mast.
170 posts
I'll second (or third) that.
The problem was fairly common on sizes 7.7 and up. 7.0 and below were generally ok (I rode those a lot and never had a mast failure).
WA
1663 posts
Yes, it happens. I had a 9.8 race sail in my favorite brand that went through 5 masts before I got rid of it. Kept the battens and cams and pulley and burned the sail. The 9.0 and 11.0 in that same series were fine on masts.
NSW
290 posts
I have F11 ram and everytime I down haul it I cringe, as said above the luff curve and downhaul tenison is massive. Haven't broken north platinum 100% mast as yet. My problem with it is The centre cam refusing to fully rotate after jibing every time. I have a chinook 40% mast that I haven't tried with it yet, I wonder if that would be less likely to break?
VIC
112 posts
The breaks you describe are a common symptom of over tightening the boom clamp onto the mast.