J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Mast

At what age/point should one consider a new mast? Over the weekend we went from St Croix to Puerto Rico for the Discover the Caribbean Regatta, ended up taking 2nd in the main and jib class. On day one we managed to pull out the turning blocks on the mast. All the bolts failed and it more ripped out of the mast. We also had the main clew slide rip out of the boom, it split the track. The boat is from 1980 and has been raced its entire life.

I'm not sure that age is the real factor. If the spars are not creased or cracked, you should be ok. The weak points are where dissimilar metal hardware has been attached. Should an attachment be compromised, over-drilling and using helical inserts can fix a problem. In the extreme case, a stainless plate can be made to fit over the area. The plate may be threaded with the holes in the same location. If accessible, the plate can be put on the inside of the mast resulting in a stronger attachment point. If external, proper attaching the plate with helical inserts and appropriate sized fasteners will work.

When I had J/30 Rhapsody I had a similar issue with the clew slug pulling out. This was fixed by using a Velcro loop available from sailmakers that is wrapped around the boom through the clew to hold the clew to the boom. On my J/109 now I use the Velcro strop and no longer use a clew slug. My mast was replaced 3 years back resulting from damage when the boat blew over when on the hard during a winter storm. All mast and boom attachments use the helical thread inserts.

Proper rig inspections should be able to determine if there are issues that need addressing. Items that are fastened to the mast & boom with screws may be "upgraded" to prevent the aluminum to stainless electrolysis issues. I use helical threaded inserts (like these on Amazon) for this. The coils are inserted by drilling and tapping the mast, the hole is threaded with a tap, and the insert screwed in with red (permanent) Loctite using the insertion tool that comes with the kit. Only the outer threads on the insert use Loctite.
The Loctite must cure before using screws for attachment. The Loctite when cured provides a passivation boundary to prevent the electrolysis.

I am familiar with those. When I had the mast down last year, I put tef-gel on all the bolts and threads that I could remove. We did end up with a velco strap on the mainsail clew and that worked great. Have until March to get the boat fixed up and ready to go along with a ton more practice.

We gave away 1st place to the J24 due to having bad boat handling through out the regatta. Heineken cup is next for us. I did get a quote from US Spars on a new mast and boom. Wasn't as scary as I thought it would be.

Hi guys, just curious on the clew slug failure scenario. Does the boom groove become enlarged or does the slug become worn? It would seem that all the tension would be taken with the outhaul and not so much on the clew slug? Thanks, Dan #409

On my boom, the boom was the failure point. The track on the boom was pulled up and out. Can clearly see where the metal "bent" outwards.

You also might check the attachment of the spreaders to the mast. Cracks can develop at the attaching hardware. There is a through bar spreader kit I installed years ago from Annapolis Rigging.