main mast splice

what we had to work with

The boat had been through 2017's Hurricane Irma, one of the worst storms to hit the Caribbean in last century. Irma was a Category 5 hurricane, and was a direct hit on the USVI and Puerto Rico. This was followed by Maria 16 days later. This one-two punch completely devastated the islands and their economies. Luckily Elysian was one of a handful of the hundred plus boats in the yard that didn't get knocked over while on the hard.

Local residents told us first hand stories of 60 foot catamarans flying through the skies and landing upside down on other catamarans... of 40 foot shipping containers flying around like leaves in the wind. slicing through anything they touched, like masts. There were multiple corroborating stories of 300mph+ tornados forming on the eye wall barrier during the storm.

Most of the boats in the Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor were knocked over during the storm as you can see in the video, including the sloop next to Elysian. When it fell, it's rig came down right into our ketch rig, snapping both masts off cleanly. The mizzen parted at the spreaders, and the main snapped 3 feet off the deck, right at the winch block section.

What we got when we bought the boat was a pile of sticks, wire and rope... and a beautiful hull! It was going to be up to use to figure out how to put it back together. Luckily the previous owner had a bunch of pictures of her beforehand, and the yard crews had dealt with most of the wreckage, piling up all the pieces and securing the mast sections on deck. Unfortunately the workers also cut a lot of the rigging wire in the process. So we needed all new wire and many replacement parts for all of the rigging pieces that were bent and broken during the accident.

In addition, and probably the biggest factor, was that the islands still haven't fully recovered from the storm, so the availability of tools, materials and parts was a constant and outstanding issue. A big shout out to Garhauer Marine for fabricating much needed parts to high specifications and working with us to get them shipped in.

the splice

Since the mast was snapped off cleanly, it was repairable, but it needed to be sleeved and spliced. It broke about three feet off of the deck, right at the winch block area, where all of the winch and hardware bolts caused a weak point. In this case it was a good thing, because not only was it a clean break, all of the replacement bolts would pass through both the original mast section and the internal sleeve, significantly strengthening the spliced area.

Ultimately we decided to take ten inches out of the mast to remove the broken metal, and built a special box in 316 stainless at the mast step to make up the difference. This made the mast as tall as it was originally without impacting the rig dimensions or furling gear,

In addition, there were several spots along the length needing minor repair. We ground away any corrosion, acid washed the aluminum, neutralized it and painted it with metal primer. Then oversized all of the hardware holes and ordered new 316 fasteners for everything.

Finally the spar was painted with Awlgrip primer and topcoat by a local painter named Noco for a pro finish that will last decades.

Hinckley Rod Lugs

In lieu of standard external chainplates, Hinckley engineered thru-deck rigging connected to 316 angle iron chainplates under the hull-deck joint, using "rod lugs" - essentially ball termination. This configuration gives incredible strength, however the rod lugs were bent and broken during the accident and needed replacing, as did the boots that keep the water out.

Busted up hardware

The falling rig had a devastating effect on the stainless mast hardware, bending and wrenching it all of of shape. Many of the stainless fasteners holding the hardware on were literally pulled right out of the aluminum spar by the incredible forces that were in play.

All the kings hardware

Luckily all of the hardware was still with the rig, and we were able to get this all rebuilt by Nautool - the local machine shop, who did a great job. Thanks John and company for helping put humpty dumpty back together again!

The new Sta-Lok hardware and custom rod lugs arrived from Garhauer Marine!

We really like working with Garhauer Marine. They can custom make anything in 316L stainless and are experts in marine hardware design and implementation. I send them CAD files and new hardware arrives in the mail. We also ordered their custom stanchions to replace all of the bent and broken railings. They came out beautifully, as you will see in further updates.

All of the old hardware has been remanufactured and polished.

Hinckley quality meant that the mast and most of the hardware could be repaired instead of purchasing a new mast and associated hardware. We remanufactured and polished it to a mirror finish, just like new. This meant we could put the mast and rig back together in it's original configuration, retaining it's heritage.

Freshly Painted by Noco!

October 2020 through March 2021 was all about working on the mast. It was a hot and dirty job, but that's often the case when working on projects of this nature.

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Notebooks & tape measures are unexpectedly precious items.

We had to remove all the spar's hardware and make detailed notes where they had been mounted, including spec'ing out oversized fasteners and figuring out all of the wrecked rigging.

Putting it all together before the big lift took four long days, each lasting well into the evening. Headlamps and lemon eucalyptus oil for mosquitos are also most essential!

It's been nerve wracking re-attaching all the remanufactured hardware, but we think it is all where it should be, and best of all, no missing - or extra - pieces!

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