Comptip life expectancy

Not sure if this has been covered on this forum but what is the life expectancy of a comptip on a getaway? My boat just turned 15 years old..

Tasmania's only getaway sailor.

Life span of a comp tip, in years, probably somewhere between 3 and 1000.

Sun can eventually eat the resin, but I have been told that the masts are relatively insensitive to this. Repeated stress can fatigue the mast, but there is no way to track or inspect for this.

Check for cracks and sun damage, and hope for the best. My 21SC mast made it 25 years before it snapped. I did regular inspections of the comp tip and found no damage, and a detailed post-failure observation did not reveal any signs of damage that could have been caught by an inspection. I have never dropped the mast in the three years I have owned the boat, and prior to the incident I have loaded the mast much more severely sailing in much heavier seas. In short, you just don't know.

On the plus side I was still able to sail the boat 4 miles upwind after the top fell off. So, to summarize, you will never know if or when it will break. But when it does, you'll be OK.

Joe

Hobie recommends keeping the comptip covered when not in use to protect from UV damage. Doing so will certainly increase the life expectancy of the mast. My 2006 H17 comptip has always been kept covered and still looks practically brand new. The comptip on my 1985 H18 looks a little rougher but has also more or less always been covered and is still going strong. If you can't keep it covered (if you have mast up storage for example), then I would recommend applying a coat of paint every year or two to protect the mast from UV exposure.

Factors that contribute to life expectancy of any composite - manufacturing defects, cyclical stress, UV exposure, and impact damage/wear. Some of these you can control, others you can not. Bottom line, if you take care of the mast - keep it protected from UV, pad it well when trailering - it should last many, many years.

sm

My getaway comptip failed after ~13 years. There was no outward sign of problems. The boat has always been kept in covered storage, so UV exposure was not an issue. It failed shortly after installing my spinnaker, although the spinnaker wasn't up when it broke. On the getaway, the mast tang is on the comptip, so when the comptip breaks, the mast comes down and you won't be sailing anymore.

Did your comptip break at the tang or at the joint where the comptip inserts into the lower mast section?

sm

It broke at the joint.

Here's is a thread about my mast breaking if you are interested:

https://www.hobie.com/forums/viewtopic. ... 52#p278520

I would check the edge of the aluminum section for burrs or sharp edges where the comptip gets inserted, make sure it’s not wearing into the mast.

sm

Thanks for the info guys, my comptip has been looked after fairly well, always garaged but sailed in 15 knots average wind speed. The boat is now 15 so heres hoping for a few more years until i can save enough pennies for a new redesigned getaway!!

Tasmania's only getaway sailor

If you can accept the added complexity and time it takes to launch, the 21SC is a great upgrade from the Getaway.

Then again, if you trailer sail a lot, the Getaway launches in half the time...

The enemy of the comptip is water and frost damage. UV damage is just superficial.

Please explain. What damage does water and frost cause, what should one look for when inspecting a comp tip?

Things freeze a lot where I live, the only mast damage I have seen personally is a blown out track near the base of a H16. I am curious what else I need to look out for.

When water penetrates the layers within the comptip and freezes, the material will be damaged. I store my mast indoors for the winter to keep it dry.

My comp tip on 2008 getaway had failed when water got inside and froze during the winter. It splintered half of the tip , completely junk now. Anyone have a comp tip for sale???