Are these solid wooden masts worth saving?

[Fairyclass]

I am the Class Secretary for the Belfast Lough One Design - Fairy Class. We have 11 boats all built in 1902. AS a class we are sailing and racing hard against one-another for only 3 months every year. We have 2 other boats currently underway restoration after many years ashore and the owners of them are beginning to look at rigs. The class have two old solid wood masts which have been dry-stored for many years. When we removed them to examine them there were signs of cracking along the grain in the timber.

I believe the masts are fir or spruce. Masts are 31 feet long. 28 feet above the deck. The rig is fractional Bermudian. The hounds are 10 ft from the head. They have single shrouds and running backstays to the hounds. So the top 10ft of mast is un-stayed, although there is an outer forestay which goes to the mast-head.

The diameter of the masts is 4 1/8" at the foot, 3 3/4" at the hounds and 2 1/2" at the head.

The cracks are 1/8" wide going to 3/4" deep although some are as long as 4ft. There are no places where the crack are on opposing sides most of the cracks are on what would be the aft facing side of the mast if erected.

I have attached some photos.

I have been reading with some hope many of the other threads in the forum, the thread about mast cracks being more than aesthetic was particularly helpful. However, I would appreciate some other expert views.

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[wizbang 13]

Can you post photos of the bottom, that we can see if they are from the center of a tree or not?
Check for bugs too, itty bitty ones.
Bruce

[johngsandusky]

I'm not an expert, but I have some experience. Those look like checks to me, the wood split as it dried. I don't think they're structurally harmful, and I wouldn't fill them with anything that might act as a wedge, or trap water. Which means I wouldn't fill them.
Welcome aboard!

[Fairyclass]

Thanks for the initial replies. I will get a picture of the bottom of the masts (although I think they are from the heart) there is a step cut out from the foot which sits in the mast step slot.

Boats were originally 'gunter' rigged but switched to Bermudian in the late 1920's. Masts have been swapped and replaced several times since then, but these could be as old as 1920's or 1930's.

[Fairyclass]

Thought I would also show a typical view of one of the Fairys under sail. This view shows an existing mast with shroud and running back-stay going to the hounds and outer forestay going to mast head.

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[wizbang 13]

Clean em up and suspend them by the ends . Hold a ticking wristwatch against one end and put an ear on the other end. If you can hear the tick, she solid.
Ol sailor lore.

[nedL]

Those look like simple checks from drying to me too. If that is the case and there are no other concerns or issues I would use them. the routine is to fill the checks with melted bees wax, it seals the check from water but in no way inhibits the natural swelling / shrinking process.

[Breakaway]

Guys, does this split look more like a glue-line failure than a check? It is SO straight.
??

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Kevin

[Fairyclass]

Guys, does this split look more like a glue-line failure than a check? It is SO straight.
??

Screen Shot 2023-03-15 at 12.55.35 PM.jpg

Kevin

I can check out that specific 'crack' and sand either side to see if it is a glue line, can also put a straight edge against it. We did not want to start sanding all over unless it was going to be a 'probable save' rather than a 'probable scrap'. So far looks like a SAVE.

Thanks
David

[wizbang 13]

A look at the butt tells us this

[Fairyclass]

Please see pictures of the foot of both masts. One of them has a 'plug' inserted to fit the slot in the mast step (2nd photo).The other (first photo) has had the lug cut from solid. It does appear to me that both masts are solid wood. Although some of the checks in the ends do look deeper.

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[wizbang 13]

Bro, maybe give ‘em a touch with a sander so we can see what we’re lookin at .
It’s grain orientation we’re lookin for, not three decades of dirt and dead varnish.
thanks
Bruce

[Andrew2]

Shakes in grown mast are usually not too much of a worry. Those do look like natural shrinkage.
But Bruce is the guy on this.

[Fairyclass]

Sorry the previous pics were pretty poor, I took a sander to the two masts and cleaned up the ends. Diameter at this point is just over 4".

This one has a plug inserted for the mast step slot.

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Wheras this mast has the mast step slot cut from solid.

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[dutchpp]

In the Netherlands there's a large fleet of traditional ships, a lot of them have massive wooden masts.
After two accidents the Dutch NTSB conducted an investigation, this investigation resulted in an industry standard for the maintenance of masts and spars.
Unfortunately it is written in Dutch, but this is a small pic of the advices on windcracks.windscheur.jpg
And this is the Google translate;
Wind tear
A wind crack is a tear or crack similar to the direction of the grain, usually caused by the natural drying process and the varying degrees of shrinkage and swelling in the wood.
A wind crack is generally not dangerous as long as it has good drainage and if the size of the crack does not exceed the following assessment criteria:
- Depth (d) : 30% of the diameter of the mast. Two (almost) opposite cracks (like d1/d2 in the drawing)
must be added together.
- Width: 5% of the mast diameter.
- Length: 20% of mast length.


Action:
Exceeding these values fall into category 3 ( severe degradation of wood or faults exceeding the limits). Call in an expert.

Edit; the industry standard ( in Dutch, but Google can help you with the translation) can be downloaded here; https://veiligheidskompas.eu/bovende...orm-rondhouten
The Dutch name is "Branche norm masten en rondhouten."

[wizbang 13]

We see now that these are pole masts ,center of the tree is the center of the mast, not glued, so “repairing” them with glue is not really an option.
They look quite beat up, and you say the boats are raced… so I’m gonna go with a no .
And lookin at the translated thing there, those checks look too deep . I never heard the term “wind crack” before .

[dutchpp]

......... I never heard the term “wind crack” before ..........

That happens when you autotranslate from one language to another, "windscheur" is the word we use in Dutch.

[Fairyclass]

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts. Look like these old masts are for the scrap heap. We may be able to chop down and use some sections for booms. I might try to re-hydrate one of them to see if the checks close up with a salt water soaking. Then have another look after that.

Meantime - owners are now faced with a search for a 'tree' mast approximately 9m long, or a deep spliced two part. The search begins......

[Ian McColgin]

I don't know what Fairyclass means by 'deep splice' but the clothspin splice does it. ====>>==== Make the female end first and then fit the male end. It takes a really sharp slick deep in the faces to get smooth. I carefully plane across, essentially circumcise, the sharp end of the male end both to allow an easier fit and to leave a pilot hole for a plug, like a stop water for a very nice look.