J/111 Mast Track Update
Here’s a short update on our mast.
Yesterday I visited Aston Harald Composite to discuss the repair. Feels good with professional people on the job.
It was during a sail test with Henrik Ottosson from North Sails, that we found that the track had come loose, just below the second spreader. We naturally aborted, and took the mast down to figure out what had happened.
The aluminum track, glued with Plexus MA425, had come clean of with all the glue still on the mast. There are rivets holding the track every 2 meters, and those had stopped the damage from spreading.
Removing the rivets, we were able to remove about 5 meters of the track more before the glue was fine and well attached to the track. Initially, we thought that the track wasn’t properly cleaned or primed, but now we see that the glue isn’t homogenous in color. So we suspect it hasn’t been properly mixed from the start, as can happen when you change tubes mid-job.
There’s no major load point here, and we haven’t used the second reef since 2016 (Göteborg Open Sea Race). We suspect that the root cause could be a heavy air gybe or flogging the main during a broach in this years Tjörn Runt. That could produce a whiplash effect on one of the sliders.
I know that glued mast tracks can be an issue on bigger boats, but I never heard it happen on a 36′ light displacement boat?
Sure, we race hard. But not that hard?
Batt, Jens & Francois discussing alternatives.
The plan now is to reglue the part that’s loose, double up on the rivets and put some additional ones at the reefing points. Should be stronger than ever.
Nov 15, 2018 @ 18:06
Förefaller ju vara en miss i tillverkningen, har du bett om J/Boats kommentar?
Nov 15, 2018 @ 19:19
Det rÀcker med en patron limför att limma hela rÀnnan, men blandningen kanske inte fungerat som den ska (med tryckluftsdrivet blandningsmunstycke). Man fÄr trycka ut lim tills fÀrgen Àr OK. Jag har limmat med samma Plexuslim, det hÄller! Första försöken epoxi enligt CSTŽs instruktioner funka inte. Numera anger dom Plexus.
Nov 15, 2018 @ 22:55
Vad Àr din gissning nÀr man rengjort skenan pÄ baksidan. Slipa till den lite eller behÄlla sÄ mycket anodisering som det gÄr (förstÄr att primern reagerar med anodiseringen)?
Inte min sak lÀngre, men man Àr ju lite nyfiken.
Nov 16, 2018 @ 09:12
Ăr det nĂ„gon som vet var man kan köpa Plexus MA425 i Sverige. Jag googlade men det kom bara upp engelska sidor och Lexus.se, men det Ă€r ju nĂ„got helt annat…
Högt & fort /// Patrik
Nov 16, 2018 @ 09:29
Jag kunde inte hitta nÄgot och distributören hade lÄng leveranstid. BÀsta tipset Àr nog masttillverkarna (jag köpte mitt frÄn Hall Spars i Holland).
Nov 16, 2018 @ 13:54
Generalagent för Plexus limmer i Sverige Àr Gleitmo AB i Kungsbacka, telefon 0300-333 33.
VÀldigt bra företag att ha att göra med. Beroende av deras produktsortiment naturligtvis inte i första hand inriktade pÄ att sÀlja till konsument, men positiva och korrekta i sitt kundbemötande.
Nov 16, 2018 @ 15:19
Kanon. Tack för det.
Högt & fort /// Patrik
PS . som lyfte upp “Medströms” pĂ„ land idag
Nov 17, 2018 @ 17:04
Hur kommer det sig att du inte reparerar den hos Seldén? Det Àr ju en av deras produkter.. Vad Àr deras kommentar och analys till varför skenan slÀppt?
Nov 17, 2018 @ 23:28
Masten Àr frÄn Hall Spars i Holland.
Apr 25, 2019 @ 13:13
Hi, Thanks for the article. My 15.2m high latitude cruising boat i used plexus 425 with primer pc120 to glue the harken ball bearing track onto my carbon fibre 23 metre mast. I used 5mm counter sunk screws at the joins and head board. When i bonded the track down after extremely careful preparation I put 1.2mm fishing line packer every .5 metres(only a few mm under the track on each side. Plexus will not cure properly if to thin! it needs a thick glue line to use its high elongation to spread the peak loads into the bond line. We have sailed the southern ocean ,cape horn, Antarctica ,crash jibed dodging whales, maximum wind speeds of 65 knots my NKE wind instrument blew away (2nd time!) It still seems ok. But its only been 4 years 26000 miles. If i did it again i would use some more screws and make sure they are flush on the inside of the mast. Sail track problems are dangerous problem offshore. I think rivet ends may damage my hi tech halyards inside the mast. I worked for one of the worlds largest carbon mast manufactures in the world, doing R and D. This my own boat my own thoughts.
Vi har en mast... - BLUR
Apr 27, 2019 @ 20:40
[…] att mastskenan lossnade i höstas (hela storyn hĂ€r) sĂ„ har vi ni fĂ„tt den limmad igen. Dessutom har vi förstĂ€rkt den med dubbelt sĂ„ mĂ„nga popnit […]
Apr 29, 2019 @ 09:19
Jag hÄller pÄ att limma en Antal skena pÄ en kolfiber mast. Antal rekommenderar Spabond 345 lim. Vad anvÀndes det Peter pÄ din reparation?