Jake,
I disagree that less sweep increases the force on the rear spreader bar. To attain the same prebend in an unloaded mast would require tighter wires increasing the force on the spreader assembly. I set the mast up with the same tension. Once the mast is in use it does not matter anyway. the pretensioning of the wires is just to prevent the inverting that happens before you get sheeted and downhauled,and to avoid any bending to leeward, closing the slot. I did not cause the failure the design of the fitting is the cause. Please look at the picture again. Picture the forces and the moment arm with relation to the web of the extrusion. Why not just improve the bracket? I do not know why Perfomance would not want to make a slight change that would make such a big difference in reliability.

Ice boating usually is happening somwhere any weekend from december to march. The really good ice is usually first of december in these parts. would you fly or drive. You are welcome to join us.
Think Ice, Dave

Jamie,
My mast was not pumping and was set up the same as I have been for the entire season with one exception, 1/8" less sweep. same tension on the outer wires. so, as my mast was not pumping. that was not the problem. thanks for the description. I did ave that problem once when I first got the 6.0. Cheers, Dave

Yes it was some serious weather out there that day. Too bad the day was ruined because a $10 bracket was carelessly designed. It is definitely the weak link. By the time it is shipped and all it is over a grand for a new mast. I am not going to buy a new one because they will not warranty it. The one that broke was two weeks old and should be warranteed. you get the picture. At this time I will do my best to avoid doing business with Performance.

The design is OK, but it just needs to be modified a little. The bracket as was installed on my mast was defective. It may be that other brackets are not the same with the tangs behind the web. Please look at the picture attached to the original post and the modified one attached to the first reply. That proves that the design is inadequate or that there is a quality control problem. especially since I pointed out the flaw at the 2001 nationals. If you can improve a part markedly with a simple design change and no added cost of the unit. Why not???

I don't want to get into the discussion about what should be warranteed or not. I think when you really look at the numbers of both masts and bow foils on the Nacra 6.0 NA that fail, there are fairly large numbers. If you are going to sail and race the boat hard, the stock equipment will fail eventually. I have broken 2 foils and have had a hand in 4 wrecked masts in a 5-year span. I have had problems with the sail track getting pinched off twice. Both of these were due to the mast hitting the water or beach hard. One was a really bad pitchpole, the other was the boat flipping on the beach in a bad microburst. 2 Nacra 6.0s had masts ruined flipping on their sides in the same incident.

The interesting thing is that my original 1994 Nacra 6.0 mast has a spreader bracket that is ~ 1/4 inch shorter then the one on my newer mast. This shifts the loads to the web on the mast, not the sail track. This mast has been through hell and the sail track has not shown any sign of being pinched off. Somewhere along the line I would guess the tolerances slipped and were ignored.

On at least 5 occasions, I have lobbied Jack Young for improvements to the 6.0 that would in my estimation have made the boats more reliable while incurring very minimal expense on the factory’s part. None of these would result in speed increases or change the boat. Performance seems generally unwilling to adopt them. They have always adopted the Mantra “That Never happens” It is unfortunate because they have a generally awesome product, but still have quality issues and common failure modes that are solvable.

Eric Anderson

Rick,
The low priced mast came with no warranty. I was using downhaul. What was said was that I was not using a 16:1 downhaul. and I did not release the main. I repeat, why not improve the design if it can be improved? I appreciate your negotiating a discounted replacement mast with performance, but I feel strongly that the design of the bracket was the cause of the failure. Why not fix it? I think Garret and Craig had their rake set to factory specs.

The factory has heard probably all the stories and in most of these cases the sailor did not respect the limits of their equipment.

I am surprised you were tuning the spreader rake for 1/8" when it was blowing like dogs. Potentially the diamonds were not set as tight as you believe. Were the wires up against the spreaders correctly, tied in with siezing wire with multiple wraps and taped. You might have thought the wires were in the slot correctly and they were not. Never no after the failure. Mast do strange things (fail) in big air when controlled incorrectly.

As I recall on my 6.0 when I finally got the mast tuned correctly the boat could handle more than the captain.

Looks like you have an insurance claim or if you paid for the mast with a credit card that gives extra protection you might recovery your bucks. Credit card claims typically need to be paid within 30 days of the failure.


Former owner of N6.0 #251 (I miss that boat)

{queue patriotic music} OK...I'm going to finish these promised spreader load drawings in the next couple of days and then I'm going to get out of this topic...promise. I'm really surprised at all of this. The Nacra boats have a deserved reputation for being bulletproof...I know mine is. How many boats with a 32' mast can withstand being turtled in 30' of water with 5 foot swells? Mine has - TWICE (yes, it's embarassing but it was an excusably violent day for a race). Hell, I cut a pretty good groove in the sandy bottom of Blackwater Sound, first with the bow and then with the mast, during a pitchpole last January. Boat Broken? nope - but I was! We righted it and sailed back to the bar. And for heaven's sake!, the previous owner of this boat once stopped 3/4 the way through RTI because he spotted a Waffle House over the trees. When he came back from his 'smacked, stacked, and covered', the wind had blown the boat over with a rudder proping up the stern - they sailed it back! These are damn fine boats. Mine has been through a lot of abuse and it's still rock solid and I'll continue to sail it for a long time. You guys disappoint me. {end music}



In the same post it's stated how many masts have been seen break as a result of capsizing in the surf and on the hard...and then how it's a shame they don't make the boats better. What boats don't break masts when they capsize and hit ground in the surf or in microbursts? Maybe I should leave this alone. {queue patriotic music again} How many Hobies have you seen pull a halyard hook out of the comp tip, How many Mysteres have pushed a chain plate rivet out the side, how many RC boats haven't had the masts sealed, how many Prindles or Tigers have had the trampoline track come loose? Every boat, every manufacturer has failures...it's statistically impossible to not have them. The question I have for you is on which boat do you feel most secure sailing across open ocean? ... I like the odds on mine. {end music}

Because if you do, you are almost openly admitting that the part isn't up to snuff, and exposing yourself for all sorts of liability issues. Sad but true

Jake I am not saying that the boats are badly built. I am not saying that the masts can ever be made unbreakable. What I am saying is that any manufacturer should be willing to make incremental improvements in their products to improve their reliability.

The fact of the matter is that a large fraction of 6.0 masts show kinking or pinching in at the sail tracks. Many of these masts were set to factory settings. Older masts had fewer problems with this because the bracket was slightly shorter. What changed? Why is the bracket now longer? The answer is most likely quality control.


I would note that between Frank Dimeo, Garret Norton, Dave Fortier, and Myself we have probably killed 16-20 masts. I would guess at least 1/2 of them should have broken given the circumstances. Several of the masts should not have broken. I do not object to buying a new mast if I roll the boat in the surf. I do object to breaking one sailing upwind double trapeezing when it was set to factory specs on a 4 month old boat.

I assume gear will fail. My sailing program takes into account periodic gear failure. I believe every single piece of the boat will break eventually when sailed hard. This is ok and I don’t have a problem with that. What I object to are things that fail regularly and are preventable through minor modification.
Examples of this are factory shrouds not being reliable, bow foil breakage, spreader and bracket design issues, jib track rivets pulling out, trampoline stitching failing (poor thread choice), drilling the ruder pivot hole in the correct spot, traveler car failure and very bad quality control on sails.

Even when numerous sailors complain about specific problems while offering better solutions that should cost very little money, Performance refuses. That is the galling part. I love the boat, the local dealer is very very good, but I do not like dealing with the company

Eric wrote:

drilling the ruder pivot hole in the correct spot, traveler car failure and very bad quality control on sails.

I always wondered, HOW, you could let who knows how many boats leave the factory, that, when you rigged them, the rudders were parrallel, on a plane different than the plane of the daggerboards? Both rudders canted to the starboard I believe it was. the gudgeons they sent to fix it, got it close, but it's still not quite in the same plane. But this was, amoung others, one of my previous posts on the now, old forum.

6.0
#111
(OLD one)

That about sums it up. Galling. and in addition to the positives that Eric listed we have a local fleet of 6.0 sailors that any one would be proud to be part of and excited to race against. I will probably get over being pissed off at the factory by springtime but who knows. I like the boat, I love our local fleet and the enthusiasm and great competition we have, but maybe I will spend the summer building new go fast ice boat gear.

Dave
Or just buy a boat the comes with a spinnaker from the factory
Hope to see you on the ice this winter. I want to get on the Crack X ice boat with a GPS to see how fact we can go! I'll even scoot out on the windward plank for some extra righting moment. I had a blast when when I sailed Eric's boat. I have an extra Hobie 14 I am fixing up to sell and may have to put the funds into an ice boat.