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PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 7:21 am 
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Location: San Antonio, TX
Does carbon fibre fatigue over time from being stressed, or are these mast breaks due to a flaw during manufacturing or mishandling or misuse?

Has anybody tried to permanently or temporarily repair a broken mast? A temporarily fix would be nice for limping home on a longer expedition type trip. I did a 200+ mile trip a few months back and as a part of preparation, I kept brainstorming ideas to keep the boat going in case of a mast break. I had an idea to re-join the broken mast by stuffing it with a length of PVC that had a good 'ole axe handle fibreglass pultrusion stuffed inside. You could wrap the pultrusion with duct tape to make it fit tightly inside the PVC. Then wrap the PVC with tape so that it fits nice and tight in the mast. You would then slide this PVC/pultrusion brace into the hollow mast to couple it back together at the break. Then, you could take care of the splintered mess by wrapping the outside of the mast with duct tape so the sail can slide back over the mast. Since I have a mast topper, I would then run fore, aft, and side stays to further support the mast.

I'm sure this isn't the safest thing to do, but if it's a matter of getting home, there could be situations where you have no other option. I'm sure sailing performance would be horrible, and you probably wouldn't want to unfurl the entire sail, but I'm wondering if you could do something to at least get you home.

Allen, if you happen to still have your broken mast handy, could you take an inner diameter measurement of the mast at the break?

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PostPosted: Sat Aug 13, 2016 1:58 pm 
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motoenthusiast wrote:
OK, I see what happened. There is a leaf spring type arrangement that keeps pressure on the retaining lever that holds the mast in the mast-cup. This leaf spring gave up after 200 or 300 outings and allowed the mast to slide up out of the mast cup..... Anyone have experience with this?
My AI2's started failing to latch on it;s own after much fewer than 200 outings.... more like something in the teens.

Luckily I did not break a mast before I found out.

My SOP now is to insert the mast and then try to pull it out. If it comes out, then I reach down and give the latch a little help getting engaged.

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PostPosted: Sat Aug 13, 2016 2:23 pm 
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Chad so few break their mast that I have never heard of anyone measuring the internal diameter. Next time someone says their mast has just broken we need to remember to ask them to measure the internal diameter at the base of the mast weRe these breaKS occur.

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PostPosted: Sat Aug 13, 2016 2:52 pm 
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vetgam wrote:
Chad so few break their mast that I have never heard of anyone measuring the internal diameter. Next time someone says their mast has just broken we need to remember to ask them to measure the internal diameter at the base of the mast weRe these breaKS occur.


Yeah, I knew it was a long shot, but thought I'd ask. It'd be nice to know, just in case.

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PostPosted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 11:03 am 
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chadbach wrote:
Does carbon fibre fatigue over time from being stressed....
My experience with carbon-fiber windsurfing masts is that they do not fatigue with stress.

When they do fail it is because of improper point loading and/or wear/surface damage on the mast.

A 'Wear' example would be sail battens that get compression by rubbing directly on the mast. ..... Eventually they wear a little groove at the contact point and the mast breaks there.

A 'Point Loading' example would be a set of very old Windsurfing Hawaii booms which grip the mast partially via line applied directly to the mast instead of over a plate between line and mast.

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PostPosted: Mon May 15, 2017 5:08 am 
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Depending on exactly where the mast broke, this could be the same issue as my broken mast, which broke at the contact point between the rivet on the sail downhaul moulding and the mast. I also have a groove worn in the mast by the other rivet.
https://www.hobie.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=75&t=60468
I feel that it is highly likely that this was the cause of my mast breakage, and that Hobie should issue a Safety Notice about this, since it is a design fault.


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PostPosted: Sun Aug 20, 2017 12:29 pm 
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Yesterday the mast on my Tandem Island suddenly broke. It was the first time the sail was used and the wind speed was 14mph which is just over 12 knots. The kayak never heeled over at all, it just suddenly snapped. If I had been closer to the rocks I might not be here to report this. Looking on the internet it seems quite common. If so and the mast can,t be trusted I have a very expensive piece of junk.


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PostPosted: Sun Aug 20, 2017 5:31 pm 
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On one of my old TI's I was concerned about the mast breaking because I was running a big jib and a big spin (265 sq ft of sail). The highest point of stress appears to be just above the delrin bearings. I happened to have one of those old pultrusion ax handles sitting in my garage for the last 20 yrs so I stripped the yellow polypropylene off the outside, then dropped it into a 6ft long aluminum pool cleaning pole (blue from leslies pool supply). I then split the mast (took the tape off the joint) and dropped the aluminum pole into the mast. It fit just fine with no issues. Actually I forgot about it until someone asked the ID of the mast. Actually that was two TI's ago, I forgot to remove it when I sold the boat. I never bothered on the next two TI's (still use the same sail sets), but then again I have a rear stay line that takes most of the load in high winds (over 20mph), I suspect the rear stay line has saved my mast on many occasions.
Obviously we only ever hear about breaking masts on the forum, but nobody talks about the thousands of them that don't break. I don't have any factual data, but imagine TI masts breaking is a very rare thing. My TI's are always heavily modified and I assume all my own risks, If I were to ever break a mast, I'm pretty certain It's because I was doing somethingcnaughty and way beyond the intended purpose of the craft. I accept that. However if I was just goin along on a stock TI within the warranty period, (and not being naughty), I would definately turn it in for warranty replacement, hobie has the best warranty systems in the business, (only thru their dealers though).
Hope this helps
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 10:59 am 
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lilian wrote:
Yesterday the mast on my Tandem Island suddenly broke. It was the first time the sail was used and the wind speed was 14mph which is just over 12 knots. The kayak never heeled over at all, it just suddenly snapped. If I had been closer to the rocks I might not be here to report this. Looking on the internet it seems quite common. If so and the mast can,t be trusted I have a very expensive piece of junk.



Get the info to your dealer to make a claim. It will be replaced via warranty. Photos of the failure will help us in researching causes.

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PostPosted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 1:25 pm 
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Location: Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK
lilian wrote:
If so and the mast can,t be trusted I have a very expensive piece of junk.


This is undoubtedly a serious situation and one I hope I never find myself in, however I feel compelled to comment since this is your first post here, to write a boat off as being junk so swiftly with such a dismissive comment is IMHO unjustified. The fact that Matt responded so quickly and 'politely' shows fantastic customer service and the reason why Hobie is a world class company. I have owned a couple of Hobie's over the years and have found them to be fantastic bits of kit - well thought out and engineered. It is definitely NOT quite common as you say and I challenge you to prove that? If it is, then I for one will rethink what I do with mine. For info, I've sailed in 6-8ft swells, gusting 25-30knot winds and been massively overpowered - not by choice I may add!! Each time my TI handled what was thrown at it with surprising ease. I also have an outboard which failed me the day I needed it... I was getting blown directly offshore and the only thing that stopped me ending up 10/15 miles out was my Mirage drive. Again, IMHO these are one of the safest craft I have come across and worthy of their high regard in many peoples minds. I am not disputing the fact that there may be a problem, after all that's why most of us use these forums but rather the manner in which it was raised. I don't know of any other company replies to their 'product owners' in the way Hobie do, and for that I salute them.

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PostPosted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 6:34 pm 
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great post.. Ive tortured mine with no problems and the fact that they handle wild conditions so well means they get used in wild conditions more often than other craft. One of my favorite toys in a lifetime..


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PostPosted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 3:05 am 
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Thanks , i had a look at mine today and it needed some maintenance Thanks again because it could of been costly.


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PostPosted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 11:32 am 
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vilcoyote66 wrote:

"This video is unavailable".

Anybody else seeing that?

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PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 5:41 am 
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PeteCress wrote:
vilcoyote66 wrote:

"This video is unavailable".

Anybody else seeing that?


I get the same thing.

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