Call Forte composites in Bristol Rhode Island.

They have a mandrel from a Tornado Teardrop mast and they have built carbon sticks of various size for one off projects like yours.

Thanks Mark. Great lead. I didn't realize that they had that mandrel.

Are you talking about our boats or your boats?

On our boats its absolutely a big deal. Mast bend, and righting moment gained due to the carbon stick are great!

Any boat. I went through the conversion from alum to carbon (Marstrom custom rig) on a 41' custom morelli cat and the gains were amazing. I haven't been tracking the smaller cats lately so not too sure of the trends there. I was surprised that some of the newer cats are back to alum like the Infusion and Tiger. I was wondering if the alum rigs have somehow gotten better to the point where carbon (cost) is not making sense in the smaller rigs. Someone tried to make the case to me that you can't translate gains in larger rigs to smaller boats and I can't buy that, so just wanted some validation from someone who has felt the difference on this sized rig.

well the F18 class rules have an aluminum mast as their class rules.

I imagine the motivation for that is cost-savings and arms race dis-incentivizing.

Personally I love my carbon mast, I hate the replacement cost if it goes snap.

Your "replacement cost" for a new N20 mast should only be $500 if you choose to purchase insurance....

If indeed the masts cost $11k, I think the insurance is a "no-brainer". What's the annual premium? $220 USD? And it covers liability to boot....

Check that the insurance company will cover a carbon mast...some won't, particularly if it is $11k!

Wasn't aware that some carriers exclude the mast... The policies I've read are silent (which means they'd ordinarily cover stuff like that), although I have seen some policies exclude racing activities...

So, if the mast is excluded on your policy, it wouldn't be covered even if it were broken by some peril other than sailing? Like lightning or windstorm?

At the cost of the mast, the insurance company may decide your boat is a write-off instead. If similar boats of a similar age are selling for less than the cost of the repairs...

Didn't think of that. If the mast is $11k and the whole boat is only $22k, then if the mast breaks the adjuster could write it off as a total loss.... Depending on the adjuster, I guess...

With the carbon stick, it's up to $26,000 us.

The mast repair cost will be compared against your boat's current worth, not the new price. If comparable boats of the same age are selling for, say, 10-15k, you may need to take the money and buy the boat back as salvage, then try to get a used stick or repair the broken one. Older boats will be even more on the bubble.

out of curiosity has the price dropped in line with the cost of the raw materials?

I was quoted 4,000.00 USD for a 32' A-Cat tube from Hall last September.

NACRA must really have a good reason for making the carbon masts obsolete. When Hall or even Marstrom can build them cheaper than NACRA, something really strange must go on.

A custom aluminium extrusion costs approx US $3 per pound. What does a bare nacra mast weight?