my mast fell down and appears to be damaged

I live in Maine on a lake. The shore is rocky and it isnt feasible to drag the Wave onto the shore. I've been keeping it on a mooring for the last 2 summers and its been fine. Certainly there is a lot of movement with the boat being on the water, particularly the mast. Last week I looked at the boat and the mast had fallen down toward the back of the boat. I went out and looked and the turnbuckle(?) at the top of the forestay where it attaches to the mast had completely eroded through.

I spoke with someone at Hobie who told me that they dont approve of keeping the boat on the water, because the rotational movement of the mast over time will cause this. The dealer who sold me the boat knew I would need to moor it and didnt feel it would be a problem. Hobie told me I should replace the wires every year and maybe lash the mast base down to limit the rotation when I wasnt using it if I was going to keep it on the water.

Anyway I replaced the wires and re installed the mast. But apparently the top section of the mast had become damaged and now there is a small misalignment between the two pieces, such that when I raise the sail, it gets stuck at the junction between the two and wont go any farther. I tried taking the mast down and raising the sail on land withe mast lying down and it went up as long as I adjusted the junction to let it through. But when I put the mast up again the same thing happened. I'm assuming I need a new top part of the mast.

Can anyone shed some light on my situation?

Thanks-I'm still kind of new at this.

Joe

My $00.02 worth. I leave my mast up most of the year. On land not on the water. But there is still wind and what have you.

1. I'd make a point of at least checking and probably replacing the shrouds, shackles, and the forestay adjuster (seems like that's the part that failed) every year.

2. The upper mast section (comptip) is expensive. I'd want to save it if I could. The junction of the two mast sections is actually three parts: the aluminum lower section, the fibreglass upper section, and a plastic track which snaps onto the back of the upper section. If it were me I'd make sure there are no sharp edges at this transition. Maybe cut the plastic track tips at and angle so they can't catch, sand the edges of the plastic tack, check for loose or frayed pieces on the sail and glue them down or have a sail maker repair them.

3. If I still had a problem and I decided it was an alignment problem I'd probably put on a thin coat of epoxy and then sand it down so it was a snug fit. Assuming constant movement has worn down the fibreglass.

Good luck and happy sailing!