mast splicing

[mikestevens]

Thanks Brian, for all your imput. The best benefit I am getting is the building of confidence that I can accoplish this.
I have a few questions for clrification.
1. How many rows of fasteners would you use on each side of the splice?
2. I think I understand the taper, but was wondering about the arch that I would cut out. Would it be steep or more rounded. Would I be removing more material that I would be leaving, for example?
3. Is the purpose of the taper to gradate the stiffness as to allow the bending loads to dissapate?

As for the bend itself. I think there was a crash gype somewhere in the history of the boat. It must have been dramatic as their is a repair to the bulkhead and the chainplate is in a slightly different location. There is a small kink in the mast at the partners (I think that is the right term for the area where the mast passes through the deck (correct me if I am wrong). In any case, I was going to cut the mast off above the damage and replace the bottom 6 feet or so with the new extrusion.

The butt of the mast is bent 2" forward from the partners to the mast step and slightly to the left. When it is in the boat I can center it and get it in column, but always have too much backstay as I am using it to pull the head back. The boat seems to perform OK, but I have no baseline. It does seem to be fast and high upwind, and not so fast downwind, but it might be a characteristic of the boat.

Lastly,
I sail in the bay, so I might see you around. Where do you operate out of?