[Anonymous]

I’d be interested to hear people’s perspective on masts with splices in them. We finally received a replacement mast from Selden USA for our new Bavaria 31 (the original mast was damaged in shipping). To my dismay the new mast has a splice in it (with lots of unsightly rivets) about 60cm up from its base (ie: the extrusion is in two parts that are joined with an inner sleeve). I suspect Selden will reassure me that this isn’t a structural issue, but it sure is an optical one!

Anyone else out there with a Selden mast that is spliced? None of the other Bavaria’s I’ve come across out here in Western Canada have this, although it seems Hunter’s occasionally do. Is the issue purely a cosmetic one? Am I being too uptight by being upset over this?

Thanks for any perspective any of you can offer.

Riyad
Vancouver, Canada
“Battuta”

[Anonymous]

I had my mast surveyed two years ago and the rigger found a crack. The rigger wanted to fit a sleeve/splice in the mast but Seldon said they wouldn’t sell him the parts to carry out the repair stating they thought it was unsafe. Being an old sceptic I actually found out the name and contact details of the CEO fo Seldon in the UK. The CEO confirmed what my rigger was saying and although the repair “might” actually be stronger they were concerned if anything happened down the line they could be held liable. I’m not an expert but I’m assuming it will dpend on where the damage is on the mast. In the end I got a new mast via my insurance company. If I were you I’d talk to your insurance company, who may appoint a rigger to inspect the repair for you.

Cheers

Jim

[Anonymous]

Hi Jim,

Thanks for this perspective and input. I think I wasn’t quite clear though…my mast wasn’t repaired, it was replaced with a brand new factory mast from Selden USA (with a splice in it). After some digging about I’ve discovered the reason why – turns out Selden USA gets all its extrusions from Europe and they need to fit in a standard shipping container. That’s why any Selden mast made in the US that is over 40 feet long has a splice in it. This includes most every new Hunter out there but also some higher end boats. Unfortunately my replacement mast came from Selden USA rather than Selden Europe, and thus was spliced. Selden has produced thousands of these spliced masts and say they are fully warrantied and that they’ve never had a mast failure due to a splice. As such, the issue is purely cosmetic, although to be honest when you’re looking at a big eyeline rivet cluster cosmetic issues become important!

Apparently, up until not that long ago all Bavaria masts were spliced. I’d be keen to hear from anybody who has a Bavaria tith a splieced Mas…

Riyad(“Battuta”)
Vancover BC

[Author]

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