dad has a north 520 race mast for a 9m warp. yesterday after derigging we found it was bent at the ferrule. what can be done about this?
If you've cracked your mast at the ferule it's stuffed.
If it's still under warranty take it back and get it replaced, if it's not under warranty it's time for a new mast.
It's definitely not normal for any mast to be bent.
its not the ferrule itself. north masts have plastic around the ferrule which has cracked. i cant tell what else has happened under it.
completely agree with muzza on this one.
a bent mast is a mast to get rid off quickly.
masts are not made prebent either. it is against racing rules to use pre bent mast shapes in almost all competitive windsurfing classes. (from what i understand). what this basically means is that manufacturers won't build masts that can't be used to race with so they aren't going to build bent masts.
your bend is from failure or fattige or something similar.
maybe keep it as a spare.
I have a North 460, carbon 60 mast which has had a slight bend for some time. I haven't really worried about it as I concluded as stated previously that it was due to warm weather conditions maintaining a bit of memory
In my years of windsurfing I've seen quite a lot of bent masts. Only in 100% carbon race masts however.
I'd mainly blame it on the high downhaul loads and warm weather down this way. Usually, if you pull a mast out at the end of the day its a little bent (its always at the ferrule, if it were anywhere else on the mast I would never use it again!) then take it home, put it in the cool garage and when you go sailing next time and the mast has cooled down you'll notice the bend won't be as pronounced.
For the guys who sail a lot, we used to rotate the masts everyday we sailed them so that you wouldn't be bending them in the same direction everytime you rigged the sail.
The best thing to combat this is keep your rigged sail in the shade even if you're just on the beach for 2 mins changing a fin. The hot sun really plays a roll in your mast pre-bending ;)
One day they'll make masts out of double-bias carbon. They'll cost $3000 but you'll be able to keep your mast for 23 years.
Totally disagree Muzza about carbon masts not bending. I , like Sean ,have seen heaps of bent 100% carbon masts .Leave it in the sun under downhaul load and see what happens !! Rig it against the bend the next day and it generally comes out to an extent . But they do bend !!!!
If its got noticable cracks it,s a time bomb , get a new one .
Regards Martin
agree with mrlove - some masts get an even bend in them along their entire length after being rigged for a whole day and left in hot sun. in most cases it's nothing to worry about.
some fiberspar quicktip masts developed cracks near the ferrule running around the mast on the bottom half of the mast, even after only a week of use. This too seems common and the mast will still last the average sailor at least another season. I've had two that did this within a week of purchase and they lasted nearly 3 years
but if your concerned about it and the mast is under warranty, like the others said, take it back
has any one played with mast back bone ,its not a brand of mast im talking its were any tapering tube made on a mandrel no matter what its made out of has one spot that it likes to bend and opposit spot were it donst like to bend , i used to build custom fishing rods from fly fishing to game rods ill play with my mast tomorrow to see
Lets cut the rubbish as i understand it.
Masts are made out of carbon fibres held together by resin.
if u leave a mast under tension in the sun the resin softens and the carbon fibres creap. leaving your mast bent. This is common and normal. Many masts straighten themselves out over time. hence the reason for the bags
It happens with the 100% carbon masts more mainly because of the increase in tension applied to them and the lower amount of resin in them.
What I believe Al is talking about is a crack in the aluminuim ferule. This is usually a vertical crack. (am i correct.)
This is not normal. This happens due to corrosion and the way that the ferule tapers out wards. As tension is applied, the aluminium ferule is stretched leading to this crack. It will only worsen over time.
Help this helps
Chad
no the mast doesnt have an alu ferrule. it is a north race mast and for some reason they have a bit of plastic at the base of the ferrule which is what has cracked.
i lubed ferals on all my masts today marked with a line down the join then downhauled, both top and bottom sections moved so mast do have a back bone , concusion keep ferals clean