Just bought Superspars Carbon rig to put on my thin ice which has fixed spreaders it came originally from Matt Bigg's boat i belive and has fixed spreaders can any one give me any advice on setting it up to replace a tin mast which had carbon stutts as lowers that ran on a track up the mast to a conventional system? pictures would be good if any one has them on email?

Cheers

Paul

Any takers?

Can't you fit normal lowers and the blocks etc? or did you want to keep the carbon struts and fit the tracks onto the carbon mast?

Fixed spreaders as in no adjustment possible or fixed spreaders as in you may have to take out a bolt and put it in a different hole or even drill a new hole for it?  There is an excellent article on setting up the mast in the library section of the site dealing with spreader length and deflection etc.

Did your alloy mast just have a strut?  Early deck-stepped rigs sometimes had a strut and transverse lowers.  If you haven't got adjustable lowers then you will have to rig them along with a puller as this is the most straightforward way of achieving control of lower mast bend and preventing the mast being pushed off the centreline.  I'm sure there are other ways of achieving the same if you are heavily into DIY engineering but the standard method is the most foolproof and robust.  HTH

The mast had adjustable struts which are fixed down by the shroud plates which then run up to a track on the mast which is controlled by pullies i could put this on but i dont fancy screwing a track onto a carbon mast.

I wouldn't either, too many holes.  FWIW the 1st version of the Superspar carbon with a plate on the front of the mast for attaching lowers and puller is in my view structurally much the strongest.  You are going to have to look at other boats with a successful system installed and think carefully about where to put the neccessary purchases.

Hi I have one of the latest Superspar carbon masts and believe that this version is the strongest manufactured to date. We brought it as it enabled us to push the Merlin as hard as we wanted and knew the mast to the spreader bracket would take it as we proved in Looe, just some of the other bits of the boat did not. Kept it for my new Merlin when it eventually arrives (busy building a house this year so no Merlin sailing) after my latest venture.
Makes a good sparrow perch as well alongised the combi in the roof!!!!

I've been sort of hoping it would break (insurance) as it is quite old now - Hywel bought it for Elusive in 1997 or thereabouts - but have not to date managed it despite breaking a puller, forgetting to put it on, wiping out in F6 with the kite up etc.

I don't think that a post above regarding breakage would go down too well with the insurance companies should they read it where you are "hoping" for a breakage.  Remember that if the mast happens to go through the deck on the way down that will be the boat out of action for some time and surely sailing is the object rather than repairing.  You should also remember that a claim has ramifications for the rest of the class in increased premiums as we all get tarred with the same high risk brush and sailing is expensive enough as it is!!

Just in case my brokers read this forum I should clarify that I haven't set out to break the mast but have gone sailing several times in conditions where all around have been breaking theirs and it remains resolutely upright and intact!  A big advantage of deck stepping is that if you do lose the rig it doesn't take out half the foredeck with it (been there, done that)

not sure how old my Carbon rig is but i don't think it was one of the earlier ones as the guy that bought it got it to replace his existing white carbon rig with adjustable spreaders. It was from Mat biggs when he upgraded a believe to chipstow mast??