So, de-rigging day before yesterday and just happened to notice a crack in my mast.

430 RDM mast, bottom half and it would appear to be right where the ferrule terminates, there is a slight narrowing of the mast at this same point. Crack is pretty well all the way around. No idea how long it has been there or how quickly is might be getting worse. I don't really ever examine my gear at all for this sort of thing.

So, I though 'oh well, see how long it lasts I have an old 430 to keep me going if this snaps before I buy a new one'.


Then yesterday sailing with my other mast, same make, same brand, same model, just a 400 RDM I take a look and hey - same crack in same place. Surely not a simple co-incidence ?


So - what do you reckon the chance are of
a) brakeage very soon and
b) being told that warranty is not valid because I obviously didn't have the two halves joined correctly when I rigged immediately before they broke and that sort of thing has never been seen before ?

Chance of breakage... very high.

Dont forget that when you snap a mast you're not just up for a new mast, there's normally a repair required on the luff tub where the broken mast has torn through.
Depending on where you sail you could also be up for a long swim with your gear !

Both masts are Kangaroo Edward, cut them down and use them as board racks, beach rod holders or short flag poles.

Warranty will be dependent on age of masts, use and whether they were new or second hand when you got them.
*If you cut the masts down... or just snap them off by hand where the crack is you will most likely see that the crack is at the end/bottom of the ferrel (high pressure point load area)

Sand and wrap with epoxy glass/carbon. Fixed!

Carantoc, how old are these masks, and what's their carbon rating ?

It can't be due to not inserting it properly, that would show up on the female side.

If both have done the same thing that makes it more plainly a manufacturing fault surely?

The fact that you have two masts of the same model with the same fault would suggest a manufacturing fault. Unless these masts are many years old I would suggest sending those pictures to the dealer you bought them from. If it is a manufacturing fault it is likely yours will not be the first claim and replacement may not be straight forward.

New 13th June 2012

97% carbon

sail manufacturer's mast

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Carantoc said..
New 13th June 2012

97% carbon

sail manufacturer's mast

Still worth sending some photos to the dealer. I hope they come up with a satisfactory resolution for you!

This was my last snapped mast, back in 2010. Snapped within 10 minutes of the very first use. Flat water, I don't think the sail even got wet before the mast snapped. Snapped as I was sailing along.

Ferrule snapped clean through, no damage what-so-ever to the mast sections.

Took it back and four weeks later after several phone calls got told - 'yep we looked at it and the wholesaler looked at it, and clearly you didn't have it fully joined when you rigged it'.





I looked at it and thought 'WTF - the ferrule is still solid in each half, there is no smooth bit of ferrule showing that isn't inside either half, the ferrule has snapped right at the join and the top half is still fully inserted into the top half. How could you claim the break shows it wasn't joined properly'

But, hey whatever - I figured maybe I was just unlucky it broke and I was doubly unlucky in not even getting an offer of a discount on a new one or triply unlucky I didn't even get any sympathy and it isn't often I break something these days, so after that I just never went back to the same shop again.

No criticism of Powerex by the way - I still reckon they are awesome masts. I am not convinced the distributor ever looked at it.


I do appreciate that anyone who has ever snapped a mast probably says it happened in the first 5 minutes on flat water and the retailer has no way of knowing if it fell of a car and was run over by a truck or if it was being used a bungy jump anchor support or part of an Iraqi weapon of mass destruction - but after that one and the response I got from the shop I am now kind of doubtful there is any point in even asking about this sort of thing.

I've snapped several masts and had them replaced by warranty. To name brands 'NP' & 'KA' both honored warranties without questioning my claim. The other masts I have snapped were purchased second-hand, so no way of knowing the history.

The OP's photos look like manufacturing faults and I would like to know (at the expense of playing devil's advocate) if the cracks are superficial or whether they open up when flexing?

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sailquik said..
Sand and wrap with epoxy glass/carbon. Fixed!

+ 1

Same problem on two of my Rods. 400 and 430(top pic). I know I've not down hauled the 400 without being fully engaged. But the 430, not so sure as I have had to repair a split which went vertically up the top section about 1 5cm. Bottom pic of the 430 repair with 50 mm unidirectional carbon tape with tension whilst applying. Am going to repair the ferrule cracks also now they have been found. Cheers.

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PhatBouy said..
I recently had a similar problem so I just did a search in the HSM Forum and found this.

http://www.hotsailsmaui.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3766

looks like nothing to worry about.

PS. I'm happy how my HSM dealer helped me out with my problem.

Had that same crack on my HSM nuevo mast, it broke, got it replaced under warranty, it broke again... gave up :-)

But the dealer was awesome at replacing !!

Looked att he HSM link...

So they wrap a bit of glass around that area - which nobody else seems to need to do - and it cracks.
And that is OK....... ?


If it is needed then it won't be as useful when cracked.

If cracking is not a problem then it didn't really need the glass in the first place...?

Jebus! How long have we been making windsurfing masts now? And still we can't get it right...

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ikw777 said..
Jebus! How long have we been making windsurfing masts now? And still we can't get it right...

The failure rate is very low considering the amount of masts out on the water every day

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PhatBouy said..
I recently had a similar problem so I just did a search in the HSM Forum and found this.

http://www.hotsailsmaui.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3766

looks like nothing to worry about.

PS. I'm happy how my HSM dealer helped me out with my problem.

I wrote the post to the HSM forum a year ago, since then I've wrapped a few layers of glass around the original crack on the mast, but that cracked too.

I've used the mast probably 50 times since I first noticed the crack, often in rugged conditions offshore with no problems, so I would think that Jeffrey Henderson's comments are correct viz. that it's not structural. I ignore the crack. JJ

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choco said..

ikw777 said..
Jebus! How long have we been making windsurfing masts now? And still we can't get it right...

The failure rate is very low considering the amount of masts out on the water every day

Agreed - but there are those that have had a couple of returns in 10yrs in the whole country and others that fail a lot more so IKW has a point

The 97% masts were Chinese, they were only made for a couple of years and I don't think they make them anymore. I have heard reports that they were breaking. They have gone to the 100% Ultras made in Eastern Eupope Borat land somewhere. I have a quiver of the 92% Kilwel masts made in NZ which by all accounts rarely break. For me they are great but they claim the Ultras preform much better.

That's not a manufacturing fault, it's an engineering fault. Or, better, no engineering at all.
Chinese companies are popping up everywhere with no real knowledge of what they should be manufacturing, they just offer low prices. Masts are a delicate thing, one should bear in mind the big stresses they have to withstand and the very light weight we want of them. It's not by chance that the World's main mast production enclave is located in a very specific area in Northern Italy, around Pordenone, and that happens because those sompanies have been producig fishing rods since always before. Not to say that you have to be from Pordenone in order to produce good masts, but it takes some in-depht knowledge of how a mast works in order to do.
Those broken sticks have separated ferrules inserted into the base, it's the old way, Fiberspar was doing so 20 + years ago, but those were tapered ferrules. Now many masts have the ferrule seamlessly integrated in one of the two halves, top or bottom, and a collar applied on to provide a rest ring for the other half and transfer stresses in a controlled way.
I see no way to stop those masts from cracking all the way, unless wrapping the crack in a very thick heavy wrap well tapered to the good part of the structure. The best thing should be to tell about the problem directly to the sailmaker who decided to have tem manufactured. The Chinese manufacturer will never take care of that by sure. The sailmaker, maybe.

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Mark _australia said..

choco said..

ikw777 said..
Jebus! How long have we been making windsurfing masts now? And still we can't get it right...

The failure rate is very low considering the amount of masts out on the water every day

Agreed - but there are those that have had a couple of returns in 10yrs in the whole country and others that fail a lot more so IKW has a point

Yes, there are brands that break a lot more than others and I am convinced a lot of the cause can be sheeted home to place of manufacture. Nothing's guaranteed in this word; and all masts can break, suffer poor workmanship, and random accidents; but when I'm offshore in rough waters I am glad my masts say "Made in USA".