Top Spreaders

I have just had a rigger do a tune-up on my mast rigging and he found the top stbd spreader had fractured close to the mast and a piece of spreader approx 75mm long was just hanging on by a small amount.  Selden say they are not warranting and that a rope / halyard must have caught around it.  We are coming up for 2 years and feel that it is a warranty issue as the other spreader is showing signs of stress ( whitening around the stress area ).  The rigger who is very experienced said that previous spreaders had 2 bolts holding the spreader to the mast fitting and now it has been reduced to one.  Has anyone checked their rigging and found anything similar?  The other explanation given is that the sail has been resting against the spreader and stay and has caused this.   My concern is that the other spreader is showing signs of stress.

Hi Antsy,

Certainly these C section Selden masts have been around a while now (I had one of the early ones on my last boat back in 2006) and if there were a generic fault you would expect it to be occurring in many masts, especially with the narrower shroud angles associated on boats with deck chainplates. By comparison the rig loads on Hanses would be much lower as they have such a wide shroud base

Matt, Sailed past EmBer weekend before lockdown and she was very well put to bed for winter rather than my mad rush to get sails off day before we are allowed out again in a month!!

Photo of Port spreader but stress is not easy to see here.