Mast Weight

[galleywench]

I have a 1962 Alberg 35 and while I was moving the mast this weekend (with my neighbor's help), I couldn't help but notice how ridiculously heavy it was. I have owned the boat for 10 years now and I'm not sure if I have ever tried to lift it before. It has always been handled by the marina or left stepped for the winter, so I was really surprised at how heavy it was (hard to tell but it must be on the order of 200 pounds judging by how much we struggled). Of course, all the rigging and furling gear was still attached.

The boat hasn't been in the water for 2 years now and I am wondering if this seems normal for a vintage mast?

[Tim]

Yes, it's normal. The old spars are telephone poles.

Don't forget: the standing rigging probably weighs nearly as much as the mast itself. Removing the rigging makes horsing the spar around a lot easier, especially if you really need to lift it some distance.

[Quetzalsailor]

Yup. Telephone poles. I could barely get one end of my 55 footer up off a sawhorse, even with 10' or so cantilevered across the sawhorse at the other end, and I am a large (but aging) animal. And my old roller-furling boom, with its' gears and rotating gooseneck is an awful carry.

That's one reason that they're still giving us service. And that's why you occasionally read that classic old boats are refitted with carbon spars which are taller, with more sail area, than the original rig.

[galleywench]

Thanks for the replies, they make me feel better. I was beginning to wonder if my kids had filled it up with stones during the year the spar has been sitting there.