Watch those tight Uppers!

Grayling, owned by Bill Young in Sylvan Lake, lost its fairly new mast on an August weekend event and tore up its deck when the short shroud reinforcing bar on the port side didn't spread the load enough. At the time, the wind was about 15knots, spinnaker flying, and wind almost abeam, so nothing out of the ordinary.

To spread the load, a rod from G10 material or stainless steel, needs to be installed under the gunwale with a new set of shroud u-bolts.  The reinforcing rod should be as long as possible (24" for G10) to spread the load.   MG Marine (Marina del Rey) can provide the materials and there are several drilling jigs for drilling new holes available in the Vancouver, Vancouver Island, and Orcas Island areas (see Gunwale reinforcement at Shrouds here) or under M242 Class Docs in the Fleet One Website.

See also the report by Reto Corfu on repairs to Back in Black after the same damage resulted in similar conditions. The report can also be accessed through M242 Class Docs on the web.