I heard that an aluminium mast can get bent.
But when I got my foil & checked the mast I thought no way. Looks to thick & solid.
Until after my session today when I turned my board upside down in the water & looked at it from the tail end. It was bent sideways & had me thinking if I had installed the track box correctly.
After removing the mast I found it was bent at the track mounting end. WTF!?
Then I remembered my previous weeks session when in bigger surf when my leg leash came off at the plug. The cord untied! Lol!
Had me swimming 100 metres to shore.
But when wanting to get back out I was smashed by the shore break & so was my SUP & foil!
But anyway, put it in a bench vice & pulled hard a few times on the end of the mast & got it straight. So yeah, it can be straightened.
Just amazed at the force it would take to bend & amazed that my track mount I installed didn't break or pop out. So happy with that.
Yeah that's why I use 7 ft coiled leg ropes , they rarely foul around the foil. That's what bends mast and rips out boxes. Be very conscious when you are in the impact zone where your leg rope is . Hard to do with 10ft straight leggies.
Thanks Piros. I was looking for an 8ft coiled leggy but could only get a 10ft. So not easy to find at my local surf shops. But at least now it doesn't wrap around my foil. But it does tangle a bit at times.
Hey warwickl. The mast is probably weaker & will probably bend in the same direction. I will just have to stop it from hitting shallow water. I have bottomed out a few times but I am quite sureit got bent from being smashed in shallow water.
I think the best way to straighten a mast to keep its strength is to heat it up before bending & let it cool on its own. But don't over heat it cause it may start to melt!
It really depends on how far bent it was and the Alloy used.
most Alloy masts, especially the two bolt hole ones are actually an extrusion for use in veranda shutters so the Alloy is not so important.
But it can be worked to a point so if your bend and rebend are within the Alloy's range then all good.
heat treatments to stress relieve are probably out of the question.
This is a tricky one, and as RAL INN said, it depends on how much the bend was in relation to work hardening.
My official suggestion and stand point on the matter is to replace the bent mast with a new one with 100% integrity.
work cap off, my un-official comment is that you can pretty much straighten most bends as long as they only slight (you have to look at it to realize it is bend, if it's like 15+ degrees I would say no) you can straighten and it will work fine. I have straightened my personal mast quite a few times, probably more to see how many times I can get away with it, but it has held up nicely. But I expect at some point it is going to crack or snap. So again, best is option 1 (above).
Ride safe.
JB
Select to expand quoteSeajuice said..
I will just have to stop it from hitting shallow water.
In my experience (and the people I know), you do not even need hitting something or have the leash wrapped around the foil to get damage. The power of just the breaking waves themselves is sufficient, the leverage created by tumbling in the foam for these big wings is huge. Smaller boards (surf foils) may be less sensitive to this, however.
Just like longboards and SUP can snap in half by just the strength of the lip, there is a risk factor involved each time your foil gets caught in whitewater. The "wrong place, wrong time" factor.
For me, after the excitement of knowing my limits by trying to tackle bigger waves with the foil, since I pay for my gear I now ponder the risks. Just as I will not get out in hollow waves (anymore) with a longboard, I won't foil when I will not be able to avoid being caught in big amounts of whitewater. And let's face it, when waves have power, regular SUPing or surfing is great anyways.
Agree Colas. I just described the worst I had experienced where the most force was subjected. And I distinctly remember going over the side of my SUP just after getting out again after my board & foil got smashed. So maybe there was an imbalance due to bent mast.
Also had a hard time getting airborne. But not sure if it was due to small waves or bent mast.
Anyway. My next session may give me the answer.
But I will from now on check for bent mast or damage after every session.
With Alloy foils, a lot has been said about their durability and strength etc.
but if you consider what Aluminium is used for in many sports and such, it has proven to be pretty reliable.
Think how long MX bikes have been using Alloy swing arms as a for instance.
when fabricating in Aluminium we bash bend twist heat weld etc. to make a part. If it's wrong we bash and bend til it is.
The thing to remember is that as a metal Al has Zero modulus of elasticity. So if you continually flex it eventually it will crack.
but that is a lot of flexing.
it is that continuous flexing that causes what we call 'work hardening '.
so if your mast bends and you can simply hold one end and pull it straight then it will be ok.
the real killer is if the bending distorts the mounting faces where one part bolts to another.
this could be the start of a situation where bolts continually loosen then the Alloy parts rub and wear and accelerate corrosion leading to failure.
Another check point to watch for fatigue in the fuselage just forward of mast. As this gets some work out from touch down and sandbars etc.
FYI, the new Gong entry line foil at 399 euros ( US$ 480, AUD 638) will have an alu mast+fuselage, but that can be replaced with a carbon mast+fuz. So it will be a way to start cheap, and upgrade later on for durability if you get hooked on foiling. This could be an interesting setup for others brands to provide, too. For instance, starting with a short alu mast, then upgrading to a longer carbon one?
+1 agree with Colas, pick your boards/gear for the conditions.
That overwhelming desire to foil in whatever is happening on the day, is now more considered for the conditions for me.
Pushing the boundaries ends up being an expensive learning curve.
Hollow waves, big waves and sand bars are not foil friendly no matter how much you wish to ride the foil for that day/location.
Keep driving - there is always a reef break or somewhere better suited if it has to be foil only for that day. :)
