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From: Peter Ogilvie (no email)
Date: Tue Jul 17 2007 - 16:08:34 EDT
There are very few people who claim their masts
survived a roll over. Personally, I doubt that they
were rolled completely over but just rolled past 90
degrees. The pressures on mast, rigging and boat in a
roll over are tremendous. Something you can't
engineer without building a super thick and short
mast, VERY oversize cable, and chainplates with
attachment reinforcing that would serve double duty as
plate armor. In short, it would no longer be a
sailboat but a motorsailer. That's keel stepped or
deck stepped. The additional rigidity of a keel
stepped mast isn't nearly enough to make a stick roll
proof.
As far as jury rigging. The only way you'll have a
useful stick is if the lower shrouds don't part. In
that case, you'll have a mast up to the spreaders.
Guess what, if the lowers don't part, you'll have the
same stub mast whether it's deck or keel stepped. In
roll overs, shrouds or chain plates normally fail
which results in the whole stick going over the side.
That means jury rigging some form of mast from deck
level. Most of the ones I've heard of, use the
spinaker pole with rope guys to keep it vertical.
That can be done whether the mast is deck stepped or
keel stepped. The only way a keel stepped mast would
have any advantage is if you slid the spinnaker pole
down inside the mast stub. Of course, you'd better
have a very long pole as you'll lose 6' or more of
length in the pole that is buried in the mast stub.
What jury rigging really is about is being sure your
spinnaker pole storage is way stout so you don't lose
it as well as the mast.
Maybe some people have been lucky with non leaking
mast partners but water also comes in at the mast
head. Have heard of boats stored on the hard that had
enough water come down from the mast head to cause
problems. With a bilge-less boat, it only takes a
little water to soak everything in the lockers that
are against the hull.
Deck stepped or keel stepped masts are not a reason to
cancel out buying a boat. If I have a choice of
identical boats, except for the way the mast is
stepped, I'll go with a deck stepped mast.
Aloha
Peter O.
--- "Rosalie B." <> wrote:
> On Tue, 17 Jul 2007 08:08:09 -0400, you wrote:
>
> >On 7/17/07, Peter Ogilvie <>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> In theory, deck stepped masts have slightly less
> >> rigidity than a keel stepped mast. In actuality,
> >> slightly wider shroud angles and possibly, not
> >> probably, a slightly more robust stick extrusion
> might
> >> be needed. It's not enough of a difference to be
> of
> >> any consequence in performance except to the most
> anal
> >> racer types.
> >
> >
> >Actually, it's more than theory. Keel-stepped
> masts are - in fact -
> >stronger than deck-stepped. But, as Peter points
> out, the deficiency can be
> >made up by by beefing up the standing rigging or
> the mast itself. I've
> >owned my boat for almost 20 years without a leak
> from the partners, but I
> >suppose the "inevitable problem" will happen some
> day [grin]. And, like
> >99.9% of the sailors out there, I've never rolled -
> nor do I expect to - so
> >I have yet to realize gaping holes in my cabin. I
> do have a friend who
> >survived three days in a liferaft after his boat
> rolled and sank within 30
> >seconds - deck-stepped mast and all. Stuff happens
> out there.
>
> The people that I know of with keel stepped masts
> who have suffered a
> demasting didn't have gaping holes in the cabin but
> have been left
> with a stump of the mast. At least one of them that
> I know of,
> reconfigured the mast - cutting off the old mast at
> the deck and
> stepping a new mast on top of it.
> >
> >From my perspective, there are advantages and
> disadvantages to both. Most
> >sailors have very strong opinions (!) but either
> can and will work
> >satisfactorily on a cruising sailboat. Get the
> boat you love, and don't
> >look back.
>
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