Top mast recommendations for Laser 2. Modifications needed?

Phouseal

New Member
Anyone have insight on how to install a external or internal pulley system to the top of my Laser 2 mast. I cannot find parts anywhere.
 

Attachments

  • 611A3759-9A53-4E34-BDD4-424DC5FFB38B.jpeg
    611A3759-9A53-4E34-BDD4-424DC5FFB38B.jpeg
    920.2 KB · Views: 72
  • 863E420D-BAAD-4C88-AADD-2C0593DAE83B.jpeg
    863E420D-BAAD-4C88-AADD-2C0593DAE83B.jpeg
    717.7 KB · Views: 62
I'm sorry, but there are no valid "other opinions". You either have the whole mast or you don't go sailing. What you have shown is the bottom 3/4 of a Laser 2 mast. The top of that bottom section has, and should have, no fittings. There should be a sheave or fairlead at the top of the top section for the main halyard. Find a top section, one way or another.

Again, if I were you, I'd go to the previous owner and scream ask, "where is my top section"? If the answer is that it was included after all, then this becomes a matter of recognition. The top section is about 1.5 metres long and 60 mm thick (roughly, as I said I don't have the exact numbers), round silver-anodized tube with a riveted-on sail track. It goes inside the bottom section so that their tracks meet. Maybe you have one sitting around somewhere after all :oops:

_
 
Looks like you are going to have to make one. I measured ours. It is a round tube with a sail track in on piece.
Tube dia is 44mm. This is probably a stock size.
Total length of the tube is 162cm with 26 cm inside the mast. Ours rests on the bolt that holds the trapeze and diamond stay wires.

I suggest that you do not waste your time trying to find the original mast head pulley fitting. Instead bolt on a simple fairlead so the halyard will go up to it and down to the head of the sail. RS Feva dinghies have this arrangement and it works ok. However unless it is a stainless steel lined fairlead you will have to have an all rope halyard. Ours are 5mm dyneema core ones.

Laser 2s invert quickly so make sure you make this top section watertight/foam filled. Ours has a mast head float. Essential in shallow muddy water.

Lastly you will have to source some sail track. You can get the type that pop rivets on.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20210917_115802896.jpg
    IMG_20210917_115802896.jpg
    986.6 KB · Views: 59
  • IMG_20210917_120909554.jpg
    IMG_20210917_120909554.jpg
    1.4 MB · Views: 68
Looks like you are going to have to make one. I measured ours. It is a round tube with a sail track in on piece.
Tube dia is 44mm. This is probably a stock size.
Total length of the tube is 162cm with 26 cm inside the mast. Ours rests on the bolt that holds the trapeze and diamond stay wires.

I suggest that you do not waste your time trying to find the original mast head pulley fitting. Instead bolt on a simple fairlead so the halyard will go up to it and down to the head of the sail. RS Feva dinghies have this arrangement and it works ok. However unless it is a stainless steel lined fairlead you will have to have an all rope halyard. Ours are 5mm dyneema core ones.

Laser 2s invert quickly so make sure you make this top section watertight/foam filled. Ours has a mast head float. Essential in shallow muddy water.

Lastly you will have to source some sail track. You can get the type that pop rivets on.

That’s super helpful!!
Thanks for helping out!
 
Tube dia is 44mm. This is probably a stock size.
Total length of the tube is 162cm with 26 cm inside the mast.
Thanks for some real-life numbers :) Sounds very thin; is that only the homebuilt one, or is the original the same? I'm a bit skeptical because spinnaker poles are 42 mm thick.

What fittings do you have on the part that goes inside the bottom section, to keep the top from rotating? (As you see I don't have an original at hand, and no clear memory how that mechanism works.)


bolt on a simple fairlead so the halyard will go up to it and down to the head of the sail. ... unless it is a stainless steel lined fairlead you will have to have an all rope halyard.
Later North American boats had that as standard - if I remember it right, an Allen A4152
allen-bullseye-fairlead-with-ss-liner-13mm-a4152-2-pack-3001553-0-1389728562000.jpg
+ a 5 mm line.
Looking at Pat's original pictures, the black/pink line looks like it's already there for exactly that.

_
 
Last edited:
Yes, 44mm does seem small, I'll go and measure it again this evening. It came with the boat and was very firmly corroded in until the top of the mast broke off so I think it is likely to be original.
 
Yes, I've checked, topmast is 44mm diameter.
It was a while now since I removed the topmast. IIRC the bottom of the top mast has slots that engage with the bolt holding the trap wires and diamonds. This stops it turning.
 
im buying an entire nother boat this weekend just to have a spare mast. same deal. shallow chesapeake. top 3ft of my main is stained from mud. we had a boat sink during the thurs races a few weeks back. mast dug in wind and some seas. drove the mast through the hull. bent the mast. it might seem like a pain in the ass but start looking for another boat for the parts.
 

Back
Top