Does anyone in the Midlands carry stocks of mast tube? Once upon a time it was available locally but I'm not sure if thats still the case?? I need a 2m length for a One Metre top suit.

Edited August 11, 20242 yr by SimonCornes

Simon

Are you sure you want 12.7 mm Groovy Mast?  Most IOM top suit rigs do not use groovy material as generally regarded as too flexible,

Eric

11 minutes ago, Eric Finley said:

Simon

Are you sure you want 12.7 mm Groovy Mast?  Most IOM top suit rigs do not use groovy material as generally regarded as too flexible,

Eric

That's interesting Eric. Well my 29 year old One Metre has groovy masts and I'm re-masting an even older One Metre which has an 11.1mm groovy mast with a joiner half way along and that is definitely too flexible, mainly at the joint. I have never found a one piece mast to be too flexible though although they are significantly more expensive than plain aluminium tube. 

Simon 

Hi

There are generally 3 tubes available plus the groovy tube

The Pierre Gonnet  appears to be the tube of choice for most modern IOM.s as it is generally considered to match the stiffness of the others but is lighter. (generally most expensive) Will need pre-bend, talk to you sail maker for guidance of how much. I have found this tube difficult to bend so built a roller bender.

The mast supplied by Housemartin is a good tube for stiffness and is the least expensive. Down side is it is probably the heaviest (greater wall thickness). An advantage is you may be able depending on choice of sails to get away with no pre-bend.

Last tube choice is Sailsetc . This somewhere in between the others both in weight and cost. Modern sails will probably require pre-bend.

Other than on my first IOM I have little experience of groovy tube. I did replace fairly quickly with Housmartin tube as the tabs on the original sails had taken on a set so sails were nice on one side but not so good on the other! Replacement sails required pre-bend. I did stay with groovy mast on the working and storm suits without issue. Cannot comment on cost but generally only available from Sailsetc.

I have generally switched to the PG tube as think weight above deck to be not good.

Hopefully others will be along to advise you.

Regards Eric

 

 

 

 

38 minutes ago, Eric Finley said:

Hi

There are generally 3 tubes available plus the groovy tube

The Pierre Gonnet  appears to be the tube of choice for most modern IOM.s as it is generally considered to match the stiffness of the others but is lighter. (generally most expensive) Will need pre-bend, talk to you sail maker for guidance of how much. I have found this tube difficult to bend so built a roller bender.

The mast supplied by Housemartin is a good tube for stiffness and is the least expensive. Down side is it is probably the heaviest (greater wall thickness). An advantage is you may be able depending on choice of sails to get away with no pre-bend.

Last tube choice is Sailsetc . This somewhere in between the others both in weight and cost. Modern sails will probably require pre-bend.

Other than on my first IOM I have little experience of groovy tube. I did replace fairly quickly with Housmartin tube as the tabs on the original sails had taken on a set so sails were nice on one side but not so good on the other! Replacement sails required pre-bend. I did stay with groovy mast on the working and storm suits without issue. Cannot comment on cost but generally only available from Sailsetc.

I have generally switched to the PG tube as think weight above deck to be not good.

Hopefully others will be along to advise you.

Regards Eric

 

 

 

 

Thank you for going to so much trouble to shed some light on what is the new norm. This boat was built well before pre-bend was a thing so a straight mast will be fine. My Metric Magik has a 12.7 groovy mast which I pre-bent a bit at a time to fit Sails etc sails to. I sailed it today, still goes well!! I also have a couple of Tony Abel Woodcock’s, one of which needs an A rig and if I can’t find a second hand one then my first choice will be Housemartin spars and sails. These boats will be ‘social sailing ‘ yachts for visitors to try so they’ll be flair weather sailors and only need top suit rigs and as they were free of charge I don’t mind spending a bit to get them all on the water.

Hi

Very jealous that you have a Metric Magik. It is a design I like the look off and I did try to find one, think on an inland lake could still surprise  a few with it's performance.

Have to say I still own my second IOM a Tonic designed by Alex Austin (bought as no Metric Magik's for sale at the time). Don't get to sail it much these days as either use my Psycho or Britpop. Will make a point of dusting off the Tonic and sailing it. That is if the Eurgle winch still works!!!! (Have got a KingMax in the box as a possible replacement)

Best of luck with new rig.

Eric

I was very lucky. I gave Chris Dicks a call and he very kindly sent me the hull sections abandoned it was then my first plank on frame hull build using bog standard cedar planking. This was the year after he won the nationals and came second to GB in the worlds so it’s 29 years old. Being such a good design I pushed the boat out and bought Sails etc rigs and the foils are Dave Creed. Whirlwind winch of course. It is a great boat but I had it laid up for over 20 years for one reason or another but now it’s getting an outing at least once a week, which is right in my opinion. 
I remember the Tonic, a good design so you should get it on the water. I wouldn’t mind a BritPop but I think it’s beyond my pocket but the Alioth is a very interesting design and I’m tempted!!

Simon

Never intended to buy a Britpop but I was offered a club members boat at a price I could not refuse. I still like to sail my Psycho and it provides a great deal of satisfaction when I beat the Britpop's in the club.

As I have said in other posts the step forward with the Britpop was the rig setup guide provided by Brad. Unfortunately with the Psycho, Barry Chisam did not provide setup information so unless you were fortunate to know another owner you were very much on your own.

I was very fortunate with the Tonic to know of a couple of  other owners to guide me plus one of the senior members of the club took an interest in making the boat and skipper faster.

Am I right that you sail at Market Bosworth? If so Laurie owns a Tonic which I believe he has been updating it with new fin etc.

Regards Eric  

38 minutes ago, Eric Finley said:

Simon

Never intended to buy a Britpop but I was offered a club members boat at a price I could not refuse. I still like to sail my Psycho and it provides a great deal of satisfaction when I beat the Britpop's in the club.

As I have said in other posts the step forward with the Britpop was the rig setup guide provided by Brad. Unfortunately with the Psycho, Barry Chisam did not provide setup information so unless you were fortunate to know another owner you were very much on your own.

I was very fortunate with the Tonic to know of a couple of  other owners to guide me plus one of the senior members of the club took an interest in making the boat and skipper faster.

Am I right that you sail at Market Bosworth? If so Laurie owns a Tonic which I believe he has been updating it with new fin etc.

Regards Eric  

Technically I’m a member of Bosworth but it’s really too far away to travel to these days but being a member has allowed me to maintain my MYA membership despite not sailing. I now sail yachts mainly at Rudyard Lake Sailing Club so my MYA membership will transfer at the end of the year. We race DF95’s and sail IOM’s for fun!! In fact we want to build our IOM fleet but we are really more interested in social sailing rather than hitting the IOM circuit for ranking points!!

Another proposal. It costs £35 for Sails Etc to post a single 2 metre 12.7mm groovy mast - which costs £36. However, I read somewhere on the Sails Etc site that you can include up to 20 masts within that tube and the shipping cost stays the same (DHL). It also costs £47 postage if you want to insure the parcel which is probably wise.

Are there maybe another 9 people within, say, 25 miles radius of Stoke-on-Trent who would like to take part in a bulk order for at least another 9  2 metre long long mast sections to make the postage £5 each - or split evenly between based on however many people take part ??

Just a suggestion to try to make the DHL charge more reasonable,

Thanks

Simon 

There is an IOM ranking race on September 28+29 at Chelmsford, this is the home of Sails etc, why not ask if anyone would pick the masts up for you, I am sure someone would.

2 hours ago, Graham Elliott said:

There is an IOM ranking race on September 28+29 at Chelmsford, this is the home of Sails etc, why not ask if anyone would pick the masts up for you, I am sure someone would.

That's a damned good idea Graham! I'll post another thread!

20 hours ago, SimonCornes said:

That's a damned good idea Graham! I'll post another thread!

I've had an offer from a club mate - who I didn't know - to collect the mast so I'm sorted! Great suggestion Graham.