Sounds like what happened to me. Bought a new severne gorilla rdm and couldn't get it apart after 2 uses. Took it back to the store, they tried and couldn't get it apart, then replaced the mast for a new one.

Maybe ask at a hardware store? they might have a silicon based aerosol product to spray onto the joint. Failing that wrap a cloth around the joint, soak the cloth with something like WD40 and leave overnight - hoping some of the lubricant will seep into the joint & loosen it. Good luck.

For next time you use a 2 piece mast, when you joint the 2 halves wrap some of that 50mm wide sticky tape around the joint. It'll stop any sand/grit getting to the joint. A fellow sailboarder told me about it (thanks Phil) when I had your same problem. It works a treat.

DON'T use wd40!!!! It will fuse it permanently!

If its a new mast it is not always sand/grit, it can be the initial wear and tear on the ferrule/join surfaces. Tape is good for keeping sand out if your mast has bungs in it. Water internally all the way up the mast to the join carrying grit that may enter the join as well.

Usually it can be a black/grey carbon paste that builds up and stays there unless you give it a wipe with a rag after each use. It can turn to cement and jam your mast even though it appears clean and dry when you rig up as it has dried from previous use. Water in the join and flexing of it during use assists the generation of the paste and hence jamming if its left in the sun to cure while you have a beer and get out of your wettie etc.

Solution wipe/wash your mast join out after each use till you can tell as to when you need not to do it all the time. Experience with such is good, but every now and then even I forget. Manufacturers could put a simple message on the join to remind the inexperienced to clean such before use.

Over time the mast join can get loose so ensure its seated fully closed after rigging or you are likely to snap it whilst sailing.

re your mast try with 8 booms, also asentioned stand its tip in the ground vertically and shake it whilst rotating it around, ...persistance,,,, beer

Cheers

had the same problem got it apart by sitting the top part of the mast on a chair and bouncing it by hand on the joint

Get someone to pin the bottom end to the ground. Then whip the top end up and down to get the centre bending as much as it will. After maybe a minute of that, turn the mast 90 degrees and repeat. Do that for 10 minutes.

Now you need about 6 men to twist the mast and hopefully it will come apart.

The bending grinds ths tiny sand particles that are jamming the mast and loosens them up a bit, just enough to make it possible to twist the mast and seperate it.

AkiraS said...

I have tried pulling it apart with a turn buckle, ............ hitting it with a rubber hammer but nothing.

can anyone give me any advise

Depending on how you attached that turnbuckle () and how / where it was hit with a mallet it may well now be buggered.
Carbon fibre laminates are brittle and do NOT like being smashed around.

Peoples - please read all the threads here before you treat it like a stuck steel pipe.



(EDIT - for the redthumbs brigade - I am not being critical of anyone in particular. Just that this topic comes around again and again and some methods mentioned will get the mast apart but possibly damage it in ways you cannot see. Read all the ways in all the threads and it will be apparent which ones work without beign brutal.)

Mark _australia said...

AkiraS said...

I have tried pulling it apart with a turn buckle, ............ hitting it with a rubber hammer but nothing.

can anyone give me any advise

Depending on how you attached that turnbuckle () and how / where it was hit with a mallet it may well now be buggered.
Carbon fibre laminates are brittle and do NOT like being smashed around.

Peoples - please read all the threads here before you treat it like a stuck steel pipe.



(EDIT - for the redthumbs brigade - I am not being critical of anyone in particular. Just that this topic comes around again and again and some methods mentioned will get the mast apart but possibly damage it in ways you cannot see. Read all the ways in all the threads and it will be apparent which ones work without beign brutal.)

Are you talking about using an hacksaw?

Finally my mast is back in two pieces!! in the end I used a winch block to pull it apart

Thank you for all the replies to my topic

The car trick works every time.
Done it a few times myself.
There is a video on an old post somewhere.

I had the issue after some grit got stuck in my NP 430 X3 mast.

I tied one end to a tree (using a tightening knot) and the other end to a 2T chain block which was then attached to the back to the car.

Slowly but surely, I applied pressure and had towels wrapped around both ends (to dampen any release) and then "POP" she came apart.

Not a fun experience and if it is a new mast, I would be taking it back in to get them to sort it out....