Am I Safe or Sorry? (Damaged Hobie Tiger mast)
My mast fell of and landed on a cleat and got a dent!
How overbuild is a tiger mast ? can I continue to use it ? If it break how is it most likely to happen ?
Still waiting for the insurance company to come with a verdict an my gut tells me that it is safe to use and not wanting to loose to many sailing days I will properly continue using it!! Is that Stupid ??

If it were up higher on the mast where there is a lot of bending load, it would definitely be a concern. But down low on the mast where the load is primarily compression, I think it is probably much less of an issue. Still not good though. The failure mode would likely be the mast buckling around the dent.
Did you have your mast step pin in when it fell?
sm
Steve M.




Bruiser, what rigs? There are vast differences in loads between a Hobie 14 rig and an aluminum F18 rig.
MN3, that approach I do tend to agree with, you can probably get in there and have an autobody shop pull it back to level and sleeve internally. At the same time, now is a good time to upgrade to a modern rig, which the Hobie Tiger will benefit from drastically. Either an Infusion rig or a Cirrus rig (Exploder and Falcon use the same extrusion as the Cirrus rig, the Wildcat may as well) will work very nicely. You will need a new main but that doesn't have to happen with the mast if insurance won't pony up. I'm not even sure you can find a Tiger stick anymore but I'm not the Hobie expert.
The insurance company has ordered a new mast, and is paying for a new cleat and the repair of my main. So thumbs up to them for that π
I will keep the old mast as a spare, in case something drastic happens to the new one!
I have thought of upgrading to a new one, but the boat is not being used for racing, so durabilitet and simplecity is important π


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