Following Sea: Mast replacement completed with trusted and qualified help

It has been a long haul for Toad Hall since being demasted and damaged during Hurricane Wilma, but it is finally back in the water. It took seven months, a lot of running around and more money than I care to mention, but the sailboat is seaworthy again. Since it was not easy, I thought I would share some of my experiences in the hope it may help others who find themselves in the same situation.

During Wilma, Toad Hall lost its mast and suffered a large hole in the rear quarter from banging against a seawall. Luckily, the hull damage was above the waterline, so the boat stayed afloat and did not take on any water below.

The rest of the damage was minor — things that I could fix myself or just live with.

After putting a temporary repair on the fiberglass with duct tape, Emilet Dervil with A+ Fiberglass Boat Repair did a nice job on the permanent repair, and it is as strong if not stronger than before. Dervil was timely, does quality work, and I would recommend him to anyone who needs fiberglass work.

Once the hull was sound, it was time to replace the mast and standing rigging. After securing the mast on land and salvaging what I could, I started looking for a new mast.

The sailboat's maker had not produced my boat since 1987, so I kept everything hoping the riggers could match it if no specs were available.

After months of searching for someone that did not look at me like a deer in the headlights when I asked about total mast replacement, I was referred to Scott at Seco South by Charleston Spar. He came down from the Tampa area, looked at the boat and took measurements and took the broken mast back with him to work on a replacement.

The company was able to find an extrusion of the original spar, and the order was placed. After researching and finding the original specs and going off the remains of the old mast, the new mast was built by Charleston Spar.

Once the spar was tapered and cut to length, it would be assembled and rigged at Seco South. One of the more difficult things to duplicate was the standing rigging because it is solid rod, not wire. With rod rigging, the lengths have to be more precise and accu rate because the ends cannot be wedged in the field. Once they are made, the length cannot be changed.

The majority of the spring racing season had passed, and I hoped to have the boat ready for the Key West race in late May. I had the boat hauled at Marco River Marina for a bottom job and a new cutlass bearing. Once it was in the water, it was ready to have the mast stepped. Scott came down, and with the help of Dave and Chris from Marco River Marina, we finally got it stepped after having a hard time seating it in the step at the keel.

The shrouds wound up being a little short and we had to add a toggle on each one at the chain plate. Scott was not a rigger, so I gave it a shot myself. After a quick test drive, we found that the sails fit cor rectly but the mast pumped badly and was not acting properly with a load on it. With less than a week to the Key West race, I was running out of time. I needed help.

Otis from West Marine on the island is very knowledgeable when it comes to rigging, and he was nice enough to take a look at it for me and gave some advice on tuning the rig. He also noted that to get rid of the pumping all together, I would most likely need a baby stay. The boat was originally designed with a baby stay, but I never saw a 9.1 with one on it and my boat never had one.

The day before we had to race to Key West, I hired a local rigger to help me tune the rig. For four hours we tuned the forestay, backstay, shrouds, and adjusted the mast step. We still had some pumping in the mast, but the rig was sound and hopefully not going anywhere.

We would have to pull out of the 100-mile race or break in the new mast. I decided it was not perfect, but it was safe enough to go. I will talk about that next week.

I just wanted to thank everyone who helped me get Toad Hall back in racing condition.

I also wanted to share what I went through because when it comes to major repairs and replacement, it is not that easy and half the battle is finding someone you can trust to help you make it happen.

Have a great week.