Boom broke off from mast

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HudsonLilJazz
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:46 am

Boom broke off from mast

Post by HudsonLilJazz »

Hello. I am new to this forum and hope I am doing it correctly.

Our boom detached from our mast and we were wondering if a welder could possibly repair it. Does anyone know about the physics of carbon fiber masts? I researched and saw this as a solution, but it seems very expensive, so I was thinking I would look for a welder to fix it.
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unfetteredalexandria
Posts: 128
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:57 pm

Re: Boom broke off from mast

Post by unfetteredalexandria »

I've never heard of anyone proposing to weld carbon fiber, and I don't see how it would work. Carbon structures are laid up with sheets of cloth, very much like fiberglass, except the fibers are strands of carbon instead of glass. A special resin that requires baking at high temperatures is needed for highest strength, but you can buy the carbon cloth and lay it up with room temperature resins if high strength is less important.

On my Freedom 25, the gooseneck (the hinged piece that connects the boom to the mast) is riveted to the mast. If yours is similar, then if the rivets pulled out, someone will have to drill out the holes, clean them up, and reattach the gooseneck with larger rivets. Monel rivets or stainless steel rivets are often recommended for carbon fiber structures, and these will require a good-sized rivet puller, especially if you are stepping up to a larger diameter to fill the enlarged holes.

If something other than the rivets pulling it is what happened, I suspect you could be looking at a more expensive repair.
1984 round-mast Freedom 25
Western Shore of the Chesapeake

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