New GMT Composites Carbon Mast for Sale
posted by John & Phyllis Web Site
Update March 15th 2007
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If you are interested in a slightly used carbon fiber mast or if you are considering the purchase of a carbon mast or in fact undertaking any large custom marine project, like building a boat, you will want to have a look at http://www.morganscloud.com/gear_failures_fixes/gfmast.htm.
If nothing else, you can learn how not to run such a project by reading about the worst and most expensive mistake I have made in 45 years of boat ownership and maintenance.
Labels: Maintenance and Refit
5 Comments:
Dear John and Phyllis,
When I read your experience with the mast I feel for you both, the reality is that there are few small companies that will stand tall and fix a problem they have created.
I find when they want to make a sale then they are all smiles when it comes down to it and you make a claim...they wiggle every way they can like a worm on a the end of a stick.
I just had the same experience over the last year with 3 gear box replacements they kept giving me the wrong ratio!!! and blamed the motor as being gutless they wanted to sell me a new engine...another lesson vested interests colour and engineers ability to provide a service.
As it happens there is nothing is wrong with the engine in fact I got to a point that I doubted my self and bought a new one from someone else thinking finally they are right and I was wrong! Now of course I have a nice 51 hp Perkins in my garage when I did not need one ha ha ha you just have to laugh..don't you?
In the end I learned to re-do it myself. when I proved the suppler was wrong he just did some more wiggling by changing his story to suit getting out of a refund. They seem to accept a down grading of there reputation then solve the problem or paying a refund.
I learned as a kid reputation is everything. I know and can share with you a long list of water front wigglers in Australia. There Motto here is a customer is last their wiggler mates are first so if you go to another recommend service provider once again your dealing with the same gen pool.
The reality is that smaller companies work on slim capital availability, the second problem is a human factor, Accountability and responsibility most people are from the wiggler gen:) Very few stand up tall if its to their disadvantage.
I feel for you both; Today once again I'm going to spend the weekend repairing what others have screwed up. The up side is I'm enjoying a great experience, how to fix the most difficult aspects of the boat my self while learning a new vocabulary that my mother told me was rude..
I find I keep relearning the same lessons as you have just experienced the waterfront service interest is full of the wigglers of this world they should hold a championship who is the biggest wiggler of them all. When one finds a person of integrity well he is your friend for life.
I take great interest in your sailing as I'm about to hold my breath and rebuild my boat for extended retirement cruising.
Good luck with it.
John W. Majewski
Skoiern iv.
Hi John and Phyllis,
I read your agonizing account of your new mast with great sympathy.
It is an extreme case of what I have come to label the "unprofessional professionals." They are everywhere, but I think the marine industry has a greater percentage than others. I have several theories about why this is the case.
1. I think people are drawn into the businesses of boats, marinas, marine insurance, surveying, etc. not primarily because these are things they think they can do well and gain personal satisfaction from, but because they enjoy boating itself. Unfortunately, that is a poor qualification for the marine specialties. An opera lover is not, by sheer love of the music, a good singer.
2. Whether we like to admit it or not, there are class systems in our country as a whole, and in microcosm in smaller communities and business environments. This is particularly true in the boating world, where those who got into marine business because they loved boating, find themselves not boating, but working for those who do and who can afford to do so. The subsequent resentment is often poorly masked and manifests itself in many ways: I'm-right-and-you're-wrong communications, userous billing, comments disguised as jokes about how you manage to have so much time or money, etc. Instead of "the customer is always right," the attitude seems to be "the customer is always rich."
4. Another adage might be "the customer is never happy." This may be partially be the fault of us falling into the "yachting ethos," where a yacht must be perfect in every detail. Many owners will nitpick over completely insignificant details. Your mast, obviously, was of major structural importance and imperative to safety. But marine professionals have become so skilled at deflecting the former problem that they automatically respond that way to real problems such as yours.
5. Even production boats are customized creations of relative complexity. Similar problems present themselves, but rarely are they identical. Repairs and maintenance, therefore, require a problem-solving nimbleness and broad level of skill that many strive for but few achieve. It is easy to make mistakes. It is even easy to make easy mistakes. (I bought sails last year from a very reputable loft, and of the three sails, two didn't fit, and the measurements of one of those two was so wrong that it had to be completely remade.)
6. The owners have no recourse. This is the corollary to the issue of customization that you labeled "no cash, no splash." Once the project is paid for, the builder, repairer, etc., the problem is considered solved and complete. This is an enormous problem for boat owners, and one which I would love to see changed. I had an engine rebuilt by an top-notch mechanic working in a terrible yard which began the project with an enormous bill (about a third the estimated cost of the rebuild) just for initial diagnostics. I decided to discuss this immediately, rather than let these types of misunderstandings accumulate, and in retaliation (I know this from a friend who worked there at the time), my project was put on a back burner for an entire season, and when it was complete, I had to pay for it before I could put it in the boat and hear it run! The crankshaft broke less than 300 hours later and the yard, of course, offered no support, such a discount on a new engine.
I think I could go on, but I probably shouldn't. Perhaps this could (and should!) be the subject for an article in Professional Boatbuilder. Would you like to be a case study?
On a more positive note, all those unprofessional professionals make the real ones stand out like shining beacons. Again, I'm sorry for your misfortunes, and thank you for sharing them as thought-provoking lessons for all of us.
Curtis
Curtis Rindlaub
A Cruising Guide to the Maine Coast
Diamond Pass Publishing, Inc.
http://www.mainecoastguide.com
In rereading your thoughts I particularly liked point number 5. Having at one time been a sailmaker, I have seen this fixation on unrealistic perfection from the other side. Indeed, in this age of glossy paint and varnish it is very easy to slip into. I’m sure I have been guilty of it myself at times.
Part of the reason we strive for perfection on a boat may simply be that we can. Yes, there are obvious safety benefits derived from high standards in structure, rig, emergency gear, etc., and I believe this is where the perfection seed is planted. But then we realize a boat is a closed world, with clearly defined limits. Perfection seems (almost) attainable. We have a complete world and system in which we have, or would like to think we have, complete control. The concept is almost irresistible. In most other departments of our lives, that is hardly the case. Perhaps one parallel is certain owners' obsessions over their cars. Imagine how the rest of our lives would shine if we detailed them as thoroughly!
The opposite side of this coin is that we come to know all the particular quirks of our boats, and we learn to love them or at least live with them, and this seems an accepted part of boating too.
Curtis
Curtis Rindlaub
A Cruising Guide to the Maine Coast
Diamond Pass Publishing, Inc.
http://www.mainecoastguide.com
Dear John and Phyllis,
My heartfelt sympathy regarding your mast problem. I tried to get a CF mast for my Freedom 21 last year and found that few companies would even do it. I almost went with GMT composites then found a mast on EBay. I was worried then that I had taken a big risk, but after reading your post.... I think the risk I took may have been less than going with GMT. By the way, I must have missed it somewhere -- who did you end up getting to do your mast?
Doug
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