Replacing rotten wooden mast?

I need to either build a new mast or buy a new one. The bottom foot is rotted out. It's on an '81 Formosa sundeck model that's open on the back deck for th dinghy. I haven't been able to find a replacement. Anybody have any ideas?

Damaged sailboat mast would make a good donor.

Is the mast solid or hollow? Either way I bet a good carpenter could scarf a replacement section on.

I had to replace the mast on Retreat. I had a welding shop fab one out of aluminum irrigation pipe. It is strong enough to stay up without stays, light enough to lower for stowing the boat in its shelter, holds the Radar and all the usual gewgaws. Not too expensive, and a lot quicker from start to finish, once I settled on a plan, than building out of wood. Oh, and little to no maintenance, no worries about rot, exposed wiring, etc.

Call the local highway folks and find out where the local damaged lamp posts are scrapped.

Usually a good grade of thick aluminum that is easy to have welded should you need to modify it.Building a tabernakle might be worth the effort if you have low local bridges.

Now is the time for improvements , nor mere duplication.

A couple of years a go, I had an aluminum mast made. I brought in the old mast for them to copy, so the same foot, lights, and stays could be used. Thick wall round is the strongest. The boom was already aluminum, so the installation of the new mast was easy. Expect to pay 1+ grand.

Many boat yards have old sailboat masts that they would like to get out of storage. They might give you one for free if you have them do the fabrication to convert to your specifications.

Sailboat masts can work but you should do some sketches to scale before you go that rout. A sailboat mast profile may be out of proportion to your boat.

I know of people who have removed the stock mast from their boat and replaced it with a custom mast or perhaps a radar arch. The stock mast could be a good replacement mast for boats like yours. For example the couple we boat with on occasion replaced the poorly designed stock mast on their lobsterboat with the mast from a Grand Banks 36 Europa.

Hop Car's suggestion of replacing the rotted section of your mast with a new section is a very good one if a wood mast works for you (it does for us). But..... you want to make sure the proper wood is used and the splice is more than strong enough to take the strain and load your mast is subjected to.

This is probably the course we would take with our mast were we in the same position you are. I think a sailboat mast of the height and strength we need would be out of proportion to our boat, and the cost of fabricating the fittings we would need on it would, I think, greatly exceed the cost of having a new wood section made and scarfed or otherwise attached to the sound section of our existing mast. (See photo for mast comparison between our boat and a Newport 30.)

This is assuming your wood mast works for you. If you need more load-bearing capability than you have now then going to an aluminum mast at this time could be beneficial.

How about cutting a foot off your mast? If you can make it work you will have a lower air draft.

JohnP