Why do used masts even exist? A mast is a very individual thing for each boat depending on size, type and personal taste and if it doesn’t break, it should stay on the boat until it lasts. The rigging is changed every 15 years, but the mast? Nope. It’s a bit like searching for used tent tent poles. If they don’t break, nobody will want to get rid of them and if somebody does offers some they most likely will not fit your tent anyhow. Benni and me were crawling the internet for masts – friends from home who are boat owners helped us with contacts in the Netherlands. It was lots of calling people, calling sailing clubs looking at the few listings on Ebay. In the end we figured that – no matter if it will be second hand or new – we need professional help.
You cannot simply transport a 12 meter mast by yourself, how do you adjust the length of the rig? I could get into technical details here and bore you to death with mast specifics – bot no no. In the end we found a mast that was brand new, but for many lucky circumstances it was affordable and came from a professional rigger – a person who specializes in making and setting up masts. It was about the perfect length, not too fat, not too skinny, light, modern and most important: It had a ton of rigs (the steel cables that hold the mast upright) – so we could finally trim our mast without the many compromises we had to accept on the old wooden one.
On Thursday the 17th of September it came. Benni fitted the mast foot, I fitted the antenna, we had to drill eight holes for the foot to be properly mounted on the boat. While we were doing all this the mast dude (Willi) prepared the steel cables but leaving out the “end terminals”. Those are done while the mast is put up that he can get the perfect measurement. Those end terminals are just shafts where the steel cables are held in place by pressing it together once. This press…. An impressive tool. (See Video).
Now there it is. Though we still have a shitload of work ahead. (technical stuff: the boom, forward stays, sliders for the main sail etc. etc.) This we will sump up in the next episode 🙂
