|
|
|
|
|||||
|
||||||
From: Peter Ogilvie (no email)
Date: Sun Apr 08 2007 - 15:33:36 EDT
The big advantage of a keel stepped mast is you can use smaller, lighter mast spec and slightly narrower shroud angles. In reality, it's only enough difference to matter to the Anal Retentive racer. One big thing I don't like about keel stepped masts is the big hole in the deck at the partners. If you are successful in sealing around the mast, you still have water ingress that comes down the mast. A source of water that I don't care to have on a boat.
A deck stepped mast works just fine. IMHOA, it's the only way to go for a serious offshore boat. A whole bunch of boats built for extreme conditions, like the W32, have deck stepped masts. If an upper shroud goes on a keel or deck stepped mast, you will probably still have the stub of a mast to set a jury rigged sail. If you lose a lower shroud, the mast is probably going to be history, deck or keel stepped. The problem with a keel stepped mast is it will fold at the partners and you'll have to cut the mast away in addition to the shrouds and stays. In both cases, once the mast is cut away, you can set a jury rigged mast using the spinnaker pole. That French Lady who was recently dismasted just a few thousand miles from completing her round the world voyage did that. Don't know whether she had a deck or keel stepped mast on her racing machine, but the jury rigged spinnaker pole worked fine for her to complete her voyage.
When we built our W32, went through a lot of anguished reflection on the ultimate rig. Thought about going keel stepped, wood instead of aluminum for the spar, larger diameter wire, etc. In the end, stuck with the rig as designed and it's done more than 40,000 miles, not all under us, without a hitch including a tropical cyclone that claimed a number of boats.
FWIW, in a roll over, almost no boat will keep it's rig. The forces on the rig are too much for any boat to withstand. If the wire doesn't fail, almost always the chain plates will pull out. Maybe a steel boat with horrendously oversized wire and a telephone pole for a stick, ala Moitessier, might make it. For the most part, that's not something we'd end up finding on the used market.
Aloha
Peter O.
Aloha
Peter O.
Bryan Genez <> wrote: On 4/8/07, mgd9121961 <> wrote:
>
> One thing that Ive been looking for is a keel stepped mast to the
> extent that I have refused to look at anything else.
>
> Am I being to picky? are there deck stepped boats out there that I
> should be looking at?
>
> I just got done looking at two listings that for the most part have
> everything else that we are looking for but have deck stepped masts.
>
> I just have this idea in my head that if you have a rigging problem
> in a blow with a deck stepped mast that it is comming down with
> little chance to be able to jury rig something to get to port.
>
> Are my fears justified?
Mike, the only person who needs to be justified is you. Anecdotal
information seems to suggest that rigging failure on a deck stepped mast
will usually result in the entire spar being lost, while a keel-stepped mast
usually leaves a stub that can support a jury rig. That said, the portion
of the keel-stepped mast that breaks free is usually a sharp dagger trying
to punch holes in your hull as rapidly as possible.
There's no perfect solution. There are world cruisers with deck-stepped
masts, just as there are daysailors with keel-stepped masts.
That said, there's also an extremely small chance you'll ever find yourself
in those conditions. How much effort do you want to spend preparing for
them? Only you know.
--
Best,
Bryan Genez
"Capella" V40-158
New Bern, NC
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
---------------------------------
Finding fabulous fares is fun.
Let Yahoo! FareChase search your favorite travel sites to find flight and hotel bargains.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
|