Replacing Mac Mast With Hobie 18 Mast - New To Sailing Need Help

[campbmic]

Hey everyone! I'm completely new to sailing and recently purchased my first sailboat a 1975 Venture of Newport.


Unfortunately I made a pretty dumb mistake and the mast ended up being snapped in half right at the spreaders. The mast is 28' long with a 3" x 4" base shaped like a tear drop (similar to the DM-6). The boom attaches about 2' 3" up the mast and the spreaders attach at about 10.5'. The spreaders are both 3' long.

After doing quite a bit of research I found that a Hobie 18' mast could be made to work for my boat. I found a Hobie 18xs mast locally a few days ago, and now need some help setting it up! Its about a foot longer than my old mast. The base is also 3" wide so it should fit into my tabernacle, however it is 5" long (1" longer than mine).

1. The slugs for the main sail and the slot they go in seem to be the same size.So that should work.

2. The new mast has spreaders at the same point, but they are too short. I see two options here.
First option: cut off the old spreaders, cut down the mast to 28', and then drill a new hole and attach my old spreaders onto the new mast.
Second option: Keep the mast its current height, cut off the spreaders that are on it now, and attach my old spreaders where the short spreaders were attached.




3. The gap where the slugs insert the sail and the place where the boom attaches are different on my new mast. If I cut ~a foot off the bottom of the new sail it will move the boom attachment and slug entrance even lower. Can I just insert the slugs up the mast then attach the boom under it wherever I want? Presumably at the same location that it should be up the mast.


4. I need to go back out to the marina and check where the shrouds attach vs where the stays attach. Here you can see where the either the shrouds or stays attached to my old mast (the two holes). Can I just drill the same two holes at the same height in the new mast to attach them? This hobie mast does have a "composite tip" and they would attach on the composite tip section.


5.The rope for the main sail on the hobie mast seems to run on the inside and come out the top. Here are pictures of the two mast heads. What should I do? Try and repair mine and use it? Buy a new one? Or just keep the hobie mast head?



6. Lastly, my mast step is 3" wide which is the same as the new mast. However the old mast was 4" long and there is a screw that looks like it keeps the mast in place lengthwise in the step. What should I do?


Thanks so much for any help! Sorry if some of these questions are basic, but I am just getting into sailing!

[campbmic]