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Belhaven masts construction


zumwaltd

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Locally I can only get aluminum poles with a thicker wall than speced in my Belhaven plans:  ( .125 vs. .65) through my metals dealer.  See quote below.  My question is: will the additional wall thickness of the bottom two mast pieces be detrimental to the overall mast bending as designed, considering the final 2" top section wall thickness will be as speced .65? 

 

Thanks for your help with this.

 

Dave Z

 

 

# Product Description Price Amount Total

1 MISC ALUMINUM 3"OD X .125 WALL X 20' 6061-T6511 $150.64 1 ea $150.64

2 MISC ALUMINUM 2.5"OD X .125 WALL X 24' 6061-T6511 $197.85 1 ea $197.85

3 MISC ALUMINUM 2"OD X .065 WALL X 24' 6061-T6511 $117.92 1 ea $117.92

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I also used the thicker wall section on my CS17 as I could not get the wall thickness specified in the 2006 era plans. From memory I think the specs now suggest the thicker section (some discussion on this forum in the past). Mast bend on mine is quite even.

post-425-0-00400300-1449551700_thumb.jpg

I doubt it will be a problem especially for the bigger Belhaven.

Cheers

Peter HK

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Dave,

 

We have increased the bottom section of the masts to .125". We cannot find wall thicknesses between .065" and .125" anymore so we bumped the lower sections in the smaller range of boats to .125". None of the dismastings that I am aware of were caused by sailing conditions. I know of five CS20 mast failures, Dawn Patrol wrapped the spinnaker halyard around a day marker when hard on the wind. Ketchup got swept under a dock. Doug's boat got the mast stuck in the sand etc... I believe that they all had the thinner wall thickness and they all broke at the deck exit. Going up to the next size was a sensible choice. Of course if this is carried too far, instead of the mast breaking during extreme abuse, it will just tear the deck out. I have not heard of any issues with the .125" lower sections. Dawn Patrols new main mast lower section is .125"

 

The .125" wall thickness is good for the bottom section for the Belhaven but for the second section I would try a bit harder to find .065" to save the weight aloft.

 

On Southern Skimmer, the main mast is 4" x .065" and she has been flogged hard over a lot of years and miles and still going strong. Beside a large trailer side swiping the main mast in a parking lot and bending it slightly, I did snarl a crab pot at night doing 10 knots with a loose spinnaker halyard.

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Dave,

I agree with Scott,Online metals were VERY reasonable in pricing for the mast sections AND shipping. I also ordered a shorter (3') section of the same .125" tubing so I could use it for establishing mast step locations,etc. while the boat was still inside the garage.

They have now added a bunch of new warehouses so shipping should be even more reasonable than when I had mine shipped from Seattle to NJ 7 years ago...

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