bent mast repair- is it possible?

Looking at an 81 Boomer for $900, guy's ad said it was a tequila sunrise, hulls are solid with a couple gouges on the starboard bow and port stern but probably 8/10, tramp is awful, still together but white as a bone and creaky with hiking straps torn away. The trailer looks fine, the rudders seem 9/10, along with the tillers and crossbar hardware. The sails look brand new. The big question here is the mast. it has a slight bend to it about 6 feet from the foot. The guy claims it can be straightened using sandbags and significant pressure, but my limited knowledge of metallurgy is screaming in my ear that either way, using that mast is a recipe for disaster. What say ye, hobie gurus? There aren't a lot of hobie parts out here in the desert, and I'm sure Hobie wants a grand or so for one. The mast is the single sheave, all aluminum type, which I prefer mostly because it looks like my 14's mast. Any ideas? I figure it needs a tramp and a mast, and if I can get a good new aftermarket tramp for 300 bucks or so, and a used mast for around there, I won't be too far behind. Any thoughts?

Depends on the severity of the bend but seems it is feasible...
Just use search function here for 'bent mast', 'fix mast', etc.
You will learn from others experience.

_________________
Raise your sail one foot, and you get ten feet of wind.
起你的一只帆，和你10英尺的。 -- Chinese Proverb
William D. Latinette @ Latrobe, PA, USA w. H14 Turbo X 2... [email protected]

Looks like about a 2-3 degree bend around a pretty wide radius, with tangent apex at approximately 6 feet above the foot. I must not know how to use the search function properly, when searching for bent mast I got a lot of info about bent things other than masts, and about masts in general. Would it work better if I put "bent mast" in quotes? Thanks for the reply.

Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot how relatively lame the search function is on this forum... It dumbly refuses to recognize grouping of multi-word targets by quotes. Many words needed for effective searches are by default ignored as too common- like 'mast', etc. but don't give up!

My main advice is to look closely at the features and information on the search page.
There are features which will help you find good information.

1) Use '+' in front of necessary search targets, i.e. '+mast'
2) Use '|' (I used to call these 'pipes' in the old Unix days) to separate search words as the 'OR' function, i.e. 'bent|fix'
3) Maybe click the box which brings up only whole topics, not individual postings which can be very confusing and time consuming.
4) Consider sorting the search results in ascending order so you can view the discussion 'historically' (sometimes helps).
5) Another tip I use is to end the 'common' word with an asterisk, thereby evoking the wildcard function, in case of various word forms or misspellings.

Note: Tips like this should be on the 'search FAQ' but it really is just a posting saying the a search function exists... helpful?

A search this way '+mast bent|fix' brings up just one page of 34 topics from 2005 to date and I'm sure you will find your answer.

Fortunately, I haven't had to fix a bent mast but if/when I do I hope this info is still here.

_________________
Raise your sail one foot, and you get ten feet of wind.
起你的一只帆，和你10英尺的。 -- Chinese Proverb
William D. Latinette @ Latrobe, PA, USA w. H14 Turbo X 2... [email protected]

Were do you live? I have a spare H16 mast that I will donate to a good home.

I live in Southern California--

_________________
1980 18 foot class A Unicorn catamaran
1977 Super Sunfish (sold)
1979 Hobie (sold)
1983 Hobie 16 Hawiian Sunset (sold)
1981 Hobie 16 Tequilla Sunrise (sold)
2008 Hobie 16 (sold)
2023 Hobie 16
Founding member of the "San Dimas Yacht Club"
John

Hey, I am in Salt Lake City and Have used masts up the wazoo. and A used mesh tramp too.

Nak7ben at gmail dot com