Planer Mast Stress

[Lefty]

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking to add a Big Jon dual planer mast to my Sea Nymph. I am going to get an adaptor for the bow seat mount, and I am wondering if anyone has ever had any issues with stress on the seat mount from the planer mast causing damage to the mount or the floor. Should I worry about bracers.

Thanks,

Lefty

[chinook]

Lefty, if you think that stress may be an issue by all means find a way to secure the mast. A stainless sub plate to start with if you can get access to underneath it. If not, I was faced with a somewhat same situation where I simply took a turnbuckle with 2 fasteners and secured off my bow rail. I took a piece of 2-6 and cut it long enough to straddle the bow rail itself. Anchored it to the rail using 4 U bolts. Mounted the mast on top of the wolmanized lumber and secured the mast as mentioned above. This did 2 things. It strengthened the mast which was very solid, let alone it elevated it much higher thus allowing the boards greater separation out to the sides of the boat. Hope this helps. But the mast themselves without the proper mounting will create metal stress and fatigue-Duane

[stinger]

I am going to get an adaptor for the bow seat mount, and I am wondering if anyone has ever had any issues with stress on the seat mount from the planer mast causing damage to the mount or the floor. Should I worry about bracers.

If your seat mount will hold your big a$$ :shock: when you miss a strike on a plug boiling on the surface then it should hold a planer mast without any problem.

I can't believe I just said it like that . Anyway Lefty, you know what I mean.

[muskybob]

I used to run my planer mast out of the forward seat mount on my 16 footer. No problems at all as long as the floor has no dry rot. Go for it.

PS: Just don't let Ray K. do any pole dancing on it and you'll be fine.

[MANIAC]

Lefty, When I rigged up my Starcraft I was also concerned about stress on the mast. I came up with a mounting method that is pretty solid. I run otter boats now,but used to run dual boards. I have had them catch air and flip in rough seas and if that happens you will wish you had good support. I don't know what the front of your boat looks like. Here are some pics of my setup. Maybe you can get some ideas from them.

I had a base plate welded for me out of S/S. A piece of flat stock with a short piece of pipe welded to it. The base is screwed to the floor. Above the base, on the wall I fastened a piece of unistrut. This is a type of channel commonly used in electrical and plumbing for supporting pipes and conduits. There are special straps that attatch to the strut (commonly called strut starps or kindorf straps). It is hard to see, at the bottom of the base I installed a roundhead screw into the short pipe. I made a small "keyway" notch in the bottom of the mast. When the mast is installed the keyway will align with the head of the screw and prevent the mast from rotating. I made the plastic knobs for the straps so that I could install easily without tools. They most often come with a 1/4" bolt and nut.

Here are the pics:

[Lefty]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, it helped to put things in perspective. Below is a pic of my bow and under the seat cushions in the middle is where the flush mounted seat base is.

I now have a couple ideas to bounce around to strengthen the mast.

Thanks again,

Lefty