Mast Extensions. Carbon VS Aluminum.

[mamero]

Carbon Mast Extensions. Are they worth the upgrade?

I sail with "bread-n-butter" Chinook SDM aluminum extensions. In my continuing quest to upgrade my gear I'm curious if the "upgrade" from aluminum to carbon has any real benefit. Will the strength/weight saved justify the weight saving in my wallet?

[wynsurfer]

If you sail in salt water I would say yes, carbon is far superior as it does not react with the salt. I bought an aluminum one a few years back and regret buying it.

[mamero]

I am a salt water sailor but so far have not been affected by corrosion on my extensions. I owned an aluminum boom that was affected with corrosion but it was upgraded to carbon long ago.

[techno900]

I had Neil Pryde carbon extensions several years back. All blew up with large formula sails with ton's of down haul. Have had three aluminum extensions for years, in salt and fresh water with no issues. I don't think carbon is worth it.

[mamero]

"Blew up"? Yikes! I thought carbon is supposed to be stronger. I guess when carbon does fail it does so catastrophically where as aluminum just bends.

[swchandler]

I have both the Chinook Euro-pin carbon and aluminum extensions, and the weight difference really isn't that great. On the other hand, I have an old Fiberspar two-pin SDM carbon extension that is feather light. It's so light because there are no holes drilled into it for adjustment, so the wall thickness is much thinner (similar to a SD mast). Instead, it uses a collar that rests on an movable clip that fits into grooves machined into extension. Once you start drilling holes into a carbon extension, you need to beef up the wall thickness maintain strength. That drives up the weight.

Actually, the holes in the Chinook carbon extension worry me, so I now use the aluminum extension instead to avoid the risk of breakage. Like I said, the weight difference between the two isn't much.

[techno900]

The part of the Neil Pryde extensions that "blew up" were the pulley assemblies. They just couldn't handle the downhaul tension.

Now matter the weight difference, it isn't enough to make ANY difference in performance, in my opinion.

[Arrgh]

FWIW, in a recent "Windsurfing Now" article, Derek Rijff notes two differences that are mostly noticeable in longer extensions:
1. Weight, particularly in longer rdm extensions.
2. Bend curve that better matches your carbon mast.

[swchandler]

techno900, if I recollect correctly, for a while Fiberspar and Neil Pryde had the same pulley assembly. In the past, one of pulley assemblies on my Fiberspar extension blew up while rigging an 8.1 race sail. I have to admit that the pulley assemblies on the Fiberspars is not nearly as beefy as the Chinooks are today.

[RaceboardDude]

Have both the carbon and aluminum Chinook EP SDM medium extensions. No noticeable difference and after several seasons of moderate use, zero problems in salt water. For the $49 difference in price you might as well buy two. That said I usually rig on the bling carbon only because...uh, it's CARBON.