Comptip breakages: how many are happening?

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Ashus
Mirror, Bosun, Laser, Fireball, Hobie 16, Dart 18, IOR 1 Tonner, 1720, Ozgoose, Hobie Getaway

I read the instructions. but wanted to share anyway. Mine has not broken yet. but I have horizontal cracks (while raised) the entire length of the Comp tip. Everyone that I've talked to says that they are "superficial" and just to keep sailing. But this makes me very nervous. I'm considering finding an old 16 mast and modifying it instead of continuing with the comp tip. Any thoughts would be welcome via PM.

I put an H16 mast on my previous getaway. It works great. It’s lighter, so easier to raise. It is from an 80’s hobie, so clearly better longevity than the comptip mast. As long as you are comfortable drilling, riviteng and cutting, it’s not a hard project. It’s also much cheaper than replacing the comptip.

Good luck!
David

Thanks for the response. I found an H16 mast for free here locally in my town. i'm comfortable with cutting riveting and such. Do you have any advice on if I need to switch out the base from the ball to the 16 base? How did you do it. And without looking at it yet. I'm not sure if the getaway base can be put into the h16 mast. Just some questions for ya. Stoked. Our cracks are significant and my wife is squarely against going out on the boat after we read that some folks have had their tips break.

Yes, I transferred the mast base from the getaway mast to the H16 mast. The shape was slightly different, but I was able to squeeze the bottom of the H16 mast just slightly in my vice in order the slip the base in.

I don't think there is a right way or wrong way to do this, but I decided to lay the two masts next to each other with the mast tangs aligned and then cut off the extra from the bottom of the H16 mast. I think it was around 9 inches. This allowed me to not have to move the mast tang on the H16 mast so that I wouldn't have a bunch of holes where the mast tang used to be. Using the getaway mast base and cutting the bottom off the H16 mast, I was able to use the standard getaway shrouds and forestay. I was trying to keep everything as close to standard as possible to avoid issues in the future when I replace my rigging. My recollection was that the H16 shrouds weren't the right length on the getaway, so keeping the mast uncut without some custom rigging wasn't an option. I didn't trim the top of the mast, so I had to add a 6 inch extension to the main halyard so that the sail isn't too high when the bead on the wire is locked in the hook at the top. The tops of the masts are different so the bob doesn't transfer directly. Here is a video that shows how to mount the bob on the H16 mast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccRjMWEOy4g

Hope that helps!
David

I haven’t figured out how to add pictures but I understand everything accept lengthing the halyard. I understand the why, but not the how.

Instead of attaching the halyard shackle directly to the head of the main sail, you need to add some sort of extension between the shackle and head of sail. I would recommend starting with a short segment of rope (6 to 9 inches) so that you can adjust it to get the sail height you like. Without the halyard extension, the sail will go to the top of the H16 mast which will be higher than where the getaway sail would normally be.

Let me know if that is not clear and I will try to post a picture.

David