I've been told a Gorilla mast with Leighton beach sand is a particularly sticky combination. This works. Clove hitches to the mast with a couple of turns of duck tape to stop it sliding. Two over-engineered veranda posts. I had to apply full strength to the Grunt 2,500 kg ( Bunnings) ratchet. Be careful! The top section narrowly missed one of the sleeping dogs.

So, Ian, just for the sake of it, how did the sand get in? Do you tape the mast join?

And did you bounce it? Upright waggle?
Or a wiggle?
Water?
Freezing?

Lets cover all of them again

I really wanted to see the tip fly off

You mean there's another use for duck tape?

A moments distraction in a sandy rigging area could also be the problem.

No didn't try freezing.

Upright waggle works great .
I was on a team once , three on one end two on the other and the hardest part was getting everyone to twist in the correct direction .
Its harder than you think , well it was for us .
We had to slow things down and come to a complete stop , delegate a twistmaster , and do a dry run in the air first .
Then it came apart

Tip in the grass and do a vigorous upright wiggle.

Its DUCT tape, not DUCK tape unless you have a strange obsession with birds.......

^^^ its commonly used for restraining birds... maybe Ian bought that kind?

Reminds me of a joke ,
Why do u wrap a guinepig in gaffa tape ?
A: so they don't explode when u ...........
. no I'm not going to finish that .
Or was it something about going off like a matchbox bomb .
mmm , that brings back memories , do they even make matches anymore ?
I think I'll have to make one for nostalgic purposes

I love these stuck mast posts.anyway always tape your mast make it a habit. Any tape will work but I like electrical tape the high quality stuff made by 3M it's really stretchy and one piece can be used a couple of times all you need is 1.5 to 2 times round the joint,store it on the top or bottom when you derig.Also makes pulling the mast from the sleeve easy.One roll lasts a couple of years.

Electric tape on the joint.

WTF on duct VS duck tape ?
[URL=imageshack.com/f/plie3kxdp] [/URL]

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arancini said..
Its DUCT tape, not DUCK tape unless you have a strange obsession with birds.......

Au contraire en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duct_tape#History_and_etymology
(bold mine)

"The first material called "duck tape" was long strips of plain cotton duck cloth used in making shoes stronger, for decoration on clothing, and for wrapping steel cables or electrical conductors to protect them from corrosion or wear....

The idea for what became duct tape came from Vesta Stoudt, an ordnance-factory worker and mother of two Navy sailors, who worried that problems with ammunition box seals would cost soldiers precious time in battle. She wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943 with the idea to seal the boxes with a fabric tape, which she had tested at her factory.[11] The letter was forwarded to the War Production Board, who put Johnson & Johnson on the job.[12] The Revolite division of Johnson & Johnson had made medical adhesive tapes from duck cloth from 1927 and a team headed by Revolite's Johnny Denoye and Johnson & Johnson's Bill Gross developed the new adhesive tape,[13] designed to be ripped by hand, not cut with scissors. Their new unnamed product was made of thin cotton duck coated in waterproof polyethylene (plastic) with a layer of rubber-based gray adhesive (branded as "Polycoat") bonded to one side.[6][14][15][16][17][18] It was easy to apply and remove, and was soon adapted to repair military equipment quickly, including vehicles and weapons.[14] This tape, colored in army-standard matte olive drab, was nicknamed "duck tape" by the soldiers.[19] Various theories have been put forward for the nickname, including the descendant relation to cotton duck fabric, the waterproof characteristics of a duck bird, "Water off a duck's back", and even the name of the 1942 amphibious military vehicle DUKW, which was pronounced "duck".[20] "

And -
Duck Tape? duct tape: www.duckbrand.com/

The more you know...

Always tape your mast joint. I can find the ferrule dry after 100ks of sailing. Not even water gets in.

Maybe hydraulic press next time :D ?

Did you try any of my tips?

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FormulaNova said..
So, Ian, just for the sake of it, how did the sand get in? Do you tape the mast join?

Some of us like livin on the edge
Mid life crisis ?
Cheaper than a Harley .
If you really want to push the envelope you could try standing up your rig in the sand to check boom height with a NP Euro pin base with that tiny ****ty button and then expect it to join the base plate. Even one grain of sand 10 m away will give major grief .
Probably OK in space .

So duck tape is cloth (gaffer)

Duct tape is the wide grey stuff that is like giant electrical tape.

Everybody is wrong and right at same time?



Anyyyywayyy I've always used quality cloth reinforced tape at the mast join as
(1) better for sail repairs so why have two rolls in the car for different purposes?
(2) a mast with a good seal (esp Severne with the rubber) tries to separate due to air pressure so I find you need a wide strong tape to keep the halves together when rigging.


I still want to see the top half fly off and spear a hole in something.

If you own a two piece mast
You are best of to tape the join ,
1. Mast does not separate whilst rigging up.
2.stops sand or mud or sheet getting in.
3. Adds weight to your sailboard for extra speed.
4. Silly posts, when you know better.

Wiggle waggle ,hose water, mates holding and wiggle wagling, is bound for good times.

Masts are two expensive .
Duck, 100 mile, electrical, duct tape ,even masking tape, will work great.

Ya wally.
$2 shop buy 5 rolls,
Ask to borrow some ,of your wind wanker mates.
Good luck .

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Imax1 said..

FormulaNova said..
So, Ian, just for the sake of it, how did the sand get in? Do you tape the mast join?

Some of us like livin on the edge
Mid life crisis ?
Cheaper than a Harley .
If you really want to push the envelope you could try standing up your rig in the sand to check boom height with a NP Euro pin base with that tiny ****ty button and then expect it to join the base plate. Even one grain of sand 10 m away will give major grief .
Probably OK in space .

Wisely NP no longer makes those. I had one as a beginner (shudder).

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Mark _australia said..
(2) a mast with a good seal (esp Severne with the rubber) tries to separate due to air pressure so I find you need a wide strong tape to keep the halves together when rigging.

When taking them apart, they make a very satisfying sound like popping a cork.

Ok, ive been caught many times. Repeat non tape offender. Hehe.....Had 6 guys crankin it, hose job, 2 booms, upsidedown violent wiggle all work at some point.
But how does the sand get in there if at that particular session i didnt leave my gear in the wash?? Gotta be from rigging?? Or from previous session n dried out inside mast?

Sometimes it's just dirt from where you rigged up. I always make sure there's no dirt inside the ends before I put it together and tape it.

[URL=imageshack.com/f/pl5gqwRqp] [/URL]

ITS Duck brand duct tape

Also make sure you have a sealing plug in the mast tip to stop water entering and carrying sand, assisted by gravity, into the join.

One reason why inverted ferrules can sometimes be a good thing, Of course, if you insist on getting your mast upside down a lot, and allow sand and water to get into the bottom, that does not really help either, and of course can lead to severly stuck in nast extensionas as well.

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olskool said..
Ok, ive been caught many times. Repeat non tape offender. Hehe.....Had 6 guys crankin it, hose job, 2 booms, upsidedown violent wiggle all work at some point.
But how does the sand get in there if at that particular session i didnt leave my gear in the wash?? Gotta be from rigging?? Or from previous session n dried out inside mast?

Are you sailing in the ocean by some chance? ... do you never ever drop your rig in the water?

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mathew said

Are you sailing in the ocean by some chance? ... do you never ever drop your rig in the water?

At GB mate. Think i sailed there with you a month ago. That is if ive got the right Mathew/ Bec?

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olskool said..

mathew said

Are you sailing in the ocean by some chance? ... do you never ever drop your rig in the water?

At GB mate. Think i sailed there with you a month ago. That is if ive got the right Mathew/ Bec?

Yep - that's us.

Here is a typical (and probably somewhat mythical) mast curve... with an exploded view of the mast-joint. When you apply tension to the sail, the mast bends... since the material flexes ( even just minimally ) and the joint is not an ideal-fit, there will be a slight opening-up of the joint.

All water that we sail in will have grit in it... be it dirt for fresh-water, or sand for ocean-water... or both if you are in a estuary. Water+grit flows into the tiny gap. Release the sail tension and thus you get grit stuck in the joint.

If you have a mast with the spigot facing upwards (so in the bottom half), then gravity works against you. vs if the spigot is in the top-half, it works for you.

So choose a mast with the spigot in the top, and use gaff/duct/duck/electrical/etc.

The ferrel that you drew is waaaay too short, I can't see that kind of slop in a mast if you are using the proper top and bottom of the same brand.
However if they are two different brands, which I've seen people use, I could see that, slightly, or if you didn't get the mast all the way together, which can also break the mast at the junction. Seen that several times, the female half will split at the junction.
Anyway, tape, tape, tape, no need for some fancy invention to get the mast apart.

I've never had a stuck mast when I tape the joint.

Non mast taper here. I put vaseline on it. I put vaseline on the mast joint too. Has worked well so far.

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John340 said..
I've never had a stuck mast when I tape the joint.

Never had a stuck mast in 10 years of rigging on grass. Saved myself metres of duct tape. ( That's a silent "t" in duct )

My theory is - Just a theory. It's the derigging sand that sticks masts. If the inside of the mast top is wet sand sticks and doesn't shake out. If it gets wet while sailing it all flushes down into the joint. Tape keeps the inside dry.

(there's a wise old proverb I read once along the lines of if each grain of sand could tell a story - relevant here but I can't find it )

Ian, I have never had a mast stick to an extension, until I went to Sandy Point. I think I had the mast taped up, but I can't remember, but it also jammed up a little. I put it down to having to rig on sand and some gets in there and settles down into the junction between the mast and the extension or the mast and ferrule.

The other places I sail are always with grass rigging areas, so I never have this problem.