Hi
I'm in the planning stages of building an Ice flyer classic.
In looking at the drawings for mast helper IFC PA220. I'm trying to figure out if the mast is supposed to be able to turn in the helper to allow for depowering or is it supposed to be held solid..?

Any ideas from some who has done this already...??

Thanks
Dave

The sail mast will of course rotate in the mast helper "cup" as it is sheeted in and out but in my opinion, the mast helper itself should rotate as little as possible. Any rotation lets the sail bend off in the direction lift is being generated and I think windsurfings sails have plenty bend off already.

One of the things to note about the ice flyer mast helper implementation is that the stainless steel tang which bolts to the plastic peice which interfaces with the mast sticks out a few inches in the front. The front stay is attached to this peice and there is a spring which keeps the front stay tight. So the spring helps keep the mast helper assemly from rotating when the sail is under load (the tang sticking out in the front is part of making this work).

One final note - Ive always assumed that keeping the sail as upright as possible is best but sails have crazy three dimensional flow so who knows...

wh

Thanks for the response..!

I agree about the mast helper staying as upright as possible.
If the mast rotates in the "cup" does that mean that the strap that holds the mast to the helper is just snug not real tight...??
If the mast turns back and forth in the cup ...Doesn't that create a wear spot on the mast?
Should there be something "slippery" like teflon or silicone between the two..?
I guess its just normal wear ..like the wear from cam inducers on the old race sails.

Thanks again
Dave

Dave, you are correct that the mast will wear on the helper as it rotates. I pretty much never break masts that have been stiffened (with a top peice from another mast) but last summer land sailing, I had a 490 mast bust just out sailing but it was about 4 tortured years old and had wear at the mast helper contact point from direct contact with the polyurethane helper bracket.

After that, I added another peice of 2 inch wide nylon strap to the inside contact of where the mast helper interfaces with the mast and this acts as a bearing. I think something like the strap should work reasonably well as it is slightly compressible and helps keep the contact area as large as possible. It helps but it will be some years before I know how much.

Hopefully Ill get around to taking a picture of it and link it here.

Also, you can wrap some glass/epoxy around the mast where it contacts the helper and its purpose is only sacrificial wear and Im guessing with this and some sort of bearing material on the helper, the issue pretty much completely goes away.

wh