In praise of SDM masts

There`s no comparison between Hot Rods and any other RDM !!! (Probably Naish ?)
They are nearer in stiffness/performance than any other RDM to SDM ???
Hot Sails dont recommend any other mast apart from Hot Rod with any sail needing 460 !!(for GPS)
All other RDM`s too flexible ???(Especially in base ?)

Davide`s perference is not to RDM`s ; its to Hot Rods. !!!
All others dislike of RDM`s is not against Hot Rods but "normal" RDM`s.

Perhaps others should try Hot Rods (But they are £328 each !!! ouch) before they judge.???
Perhaps Davide should try other RDM`s before he judges others assesments of RDM`s ???

Reckon Tushingham site summed it up best ! (But thats not Hot Rods !!!)

Sailing gets more complicated every year !!!

We get further and further away from standardisation !!!

We should be able to rely on IMCS for comparison. We obviously cant !!!

Personally I have also found my RDM`s (Amex)more flexible than expected.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

We should be able to rely on IMCS for comparison. We obviously cant !!!

The IMCS system is perfectly reliable. The problem is that manufacturers lie about the bend curves of their masts. If everyone told the truth and stated the real stiffness and real bend curve numbers of their masts then you could rely on the IMCS.
re hot rods, they are stiffer based than most (not all) other RDM masts but they still have more bend low down than the majority of SDM masts. They also bend very differently in the different sizes, the 430 for example being very flex top but the 400 no where near as much,but quite stiff overall and the 370 being very soft.

Having used my hotsails gps 7,3 with hotrod 460 quite a bit I can say that i really liked it. HSM build quality and ease of use were great. Then switched to challenger sails and a north platinum mast recently and can comment that I miss the build quality of HSM compared to challenger sails. Even tough the HSM hotrod combo was very nice to sail i think that I can tell a difference that the NS platinum mast feels a lot stiffer. I also think the term SDM is really missleading, it means that you can use a sdm extensiorner but different brands use different amount of drop shape so camber fit can be a problem. The rdm was great for free sailing but I belive that an sdm is the way to get best performance for larger sails (460).

[nakaniko]

I'm a bit surprised about some statements over Hot Rod masts from Hotsails. I use Fiberspars on my full quiver of HSM and I get very good shape both with sdm and rdm. If the sails would have been designed over so strange masts like told I don't think I could get the seme result using my Fiberspar, I should get very different answer when using f.e. Fire 4,5 or Smack 5,5, shaped on the Hot Rods 400 and 430.
About GPS I've never used them, I avoid cambered sails, but I know that only in 2009 they were rdm-only, now they are provided with another set of cambers for sdm masts, they tell me; and so for masts not produced from HSM...
In any case nowaday every sail brand suggest only their own masts. but on the specs of HSM sails booklet is clearly told that you can use successfully other various brands, sometime even suggesting what brands gives good answer (and so you can understand what brands don't).
This was intended like a post about sdm masts but in defence of HSM I want all to know that I've casually met HSM sails but since that time I've never found the same quality, durability, and easiness of use (also with different masts!).
Coming back to the topic, I thnk that a waveproof mast has to be stronger, so they have to build it with a thicker section. But not necessarily in reduced section, imho. So I don't know what were the reasons to change the standard. Anyhow rdm is nowaday a standard like sdm