Dropped Mast

Had an occasion to drop the 25 foot mast onto the parking lot. Very fortunate that this happened after the boat was loaded on the trailer and not out on the water for the third time, else this could have been fatal. Nobody or other cars got hit when the forestay broke loose from a stamped shackle that was holding the lower furler swivel onto the forestay. Bad on me for not tossing out that stamped shackle in the first place. Evidently this small pin shackle was doing double duty as the pin holding the swivel to the upper forestay, plus holding a micro block for the jib halyard that snakes within the jib’s zippered luff. Took the mast base off and over to a local fabricator to have one of the mast base grip fingers welded back on. Also broke the boom goose neck cast aluminum pintle and cracked the cabin companionway hatch cover. Used epoxy to repair the pintle. Eventually replaced the pintle with a stainless model for a Hobie 18, and repaired the hatch cover (shows a slight scar not unlike the one from by bypass surgery).

I have since replaced that shackle with a clevis pin to connect the upper furler swivel to the forestay. The clevis pin fits but is slightly undersized because the forestay toggle jaw pin hole does not line up exactly with the pin hole on the lower swivel. Could not find a forged shackle that would fit the effective (available) pin hole diameter and the width opening. The small diameter pin on the stamped shackle would fit, but not fully tighten, hence the pull apart. The jib halyard block is still slung with the stamped shackle through the toggle jaw, but nowhere near loading of the forestay. Will be refitting the jib halyard block to something better.

The continuous fuller upper pin hole has an even larger misfit alignment with the lower forestay toggle jaw pin hole. Again had a small pin stamped shackle making that connection. Did grind down the furler cast cover a bit to get a good pin hole alignment with the jaw toggle. Used a good size forged shackle to secure the furler to the forestay as the shackle hoop also is the tie off for the jib halyard. Will be re-working this forestay – furler system with added long jaw toggle link to get better jib response to furler action. I store the boat with the mast off the trailer. Also keep the jib on the forestay, and both off the mast for storage and travel. If I kept the boat stored with mast up, would unzip the jib luff and remove jib from the forestay.