Anyone have any views as to the relative performance, differences between the two materials. Would say a carbon mast bend more to leeward.
Would a sail be identical in cut, battens for either mast.
Richard Openshaw
NS26C #251 HipHooray
Swale, UK
Having switched from owning a 26C (#143) with an aluminum mast to a 26U (#233) that was retrofitted with a carbon fiber mast before I purchased it, I can give you my impressions of the differences between those two boats.
However, I’d have to offer a lot of caveats – I can’t tell you with certainty how much of those differences are attributable to differences in masts vs. differences in sails or other factors. For example, wind conditions. In addition, I’d like to re-quote what someone else once said in the discussion group that strikes me as very apt: “When you’ve seen one Nonsuch, you’ve seen… one Nonsuch.”
So take the following as a comparison of the differences between MY masts and boats, rather than ALL aluminum vs. carbon masts.
Some background on sails. My aluminum-masted N26C was flying a fairly new, relatively light weight sail. That sail was made by an offshore loft for another owner, who sold it to me cheaply new and unused because its reefing points were mis-positioned and the loft had given him a free replacement. I had new points installed by local sailmaker and was very happy with it. It worked quite well in the light air (usually 8-12 kts) conditions common here in Southern California. My carbon-masted 26U came with a much older, heavier-duty name brand (Pineapple) sail that was built for the much heavier (20+ kt) conditions found up north in San Francisco Bay, where I bought it. That sail is now in its end days, and I’m having a new sail built by the local Ullman loft.
The carbon mast on my 26U was a replacement after a previous owner bent the original aluminum by catching the topping lift while cutting too close to a buoy used as a rounding mark in a San Francisco Bay race. The boat still has the original aluminum wishbone bone, complete with the scrape marks from that incident. The sail also was, if not the original sail, certainly built before the mast replacement and therefore designed for an aluminum mast.
With that background, I can say that the carbon fiber 26U impressed me as sailing stiffer when I test sailed it in blustery SF Bay conditions and slightly faster in the light air conditions down here in Los Angeles. However, as its sail aged, those advantages have largely gone away. So, how much was due to the mast and how much was due to the sail is an open question. Ditto whether Classic vs. Ultra matters. Ditto whether any difference was attributable to relatively bendiness vs. a significant reduction in weight at the bow.
Just to be clear, by sailing stiffer I mean less heeling. Any differences in which mast bent more to leeward were not discernible to my naked eye. I do have the impression that my carbon mast is bendier fore and aft than the aluminum was, based on how the two boats looked at the dock when everything was put away.
I happen to be at a point where the length of time I owned the boats is about equal – around four years each. At this point, I’m inclined to guess that sail quality matters more than the mast material from a performance standpoint.
Having seen initial performance differences with a carbon mast flying a sail that was not specially designed for carbon, I’m also inclined to guess that the mast material doesn’t influence the sail design. However, I’ll talk to the folks doing my new sail – if they have other thoughts, I’ll post about it.
Some non-performance differences that are worth commenting on:
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Positive. I like not having to be quite as worried about corrosion, and having a one-piece rather than a two-piece mast eliminates some inspection points.
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Negative. My carbon mast (as I understand to be the case for many Nonsuch carbon masts) does not have a fixed topping lift for the boom. Instead, it has two halyards and dedicates one as the topping lift. I don’t like this at all. If I was ordering a carbon fiber mast for a Nonsuch, I’d insist that it be designed and built with a fixed topping lift. Using a halyard as a topping lift just adds potential failure points and adds the cost of rigging it as a halyard without getting the benefit of actually being able to use it as one. A fixed topping lift with a stopper line, combined with a multi-purchase set of blocks bridging between it and the boom end, allows adjusting the boom angle while ensuring that an accidental release can’t drop the boom on someone’s head. To achieve the same safety level when obliged to use a halyard, I had to secure it so that it can’t easily be released (which in my case means that I ran it through a sheetstopper AND then tied off the bitter end on a cleat AND festooned both with warning labels). Then I had to add the multi-purchase adjustment block arrangement.
Hope this helps. I also hope you get additional feedback from others. It’s an interesting question and, as previously noted, “When you’ve seen one Nonsuch, you’ve seen… one Nonsuch.”
– Bob
Me Gusta
Nonsuch 26U #233
Marina del Rey, California