Can this hull be saved?

Alan Glos

Active Member
A friend has a mid-1980s Sunfish. Last fall he was sailing it in heavy air when the mast step failed.
The mast and rig fell aft and the deck around the mast hole cracked, but the mast tube appears to be intact.

I do boat repairs and he asked me to look at it. I told him that I could install an inspection port, re-glass the tube into the base of the step and repair the deck crack, but, given the stresses in this area, I told him that I could not guarantee the repair and it might better to buy a hull-only that he can transfer
the rig to and then scrap the hull for parts and landfill the hulk.

Has anybody out there made such a repair and if so, how did it work out?

No photos (I don't have ready access to the boat) but you get the idea.

Comments?

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 
I wrecked my '78 Sunfish last summer with the same sort of mast step failure. I am planning to repair it but haven't found the time and bought a '73 sunfish in OK shape so I can get out on the water this summer. It sounds like he came out with less damage than I did. My mast tube was also broken during the failure, so I am planning to rebuild the mast tube (mostly by wrapping up the existing parts in glass to get them back into the right shape), re-glass the tube to the bottom of the hull and then stitch the torn hull up with a fiberglass repair to get the boat closed up again. I'll need a port or two to make these repairs, too. I think there are a couple of mast step repairs on the sunfish forum side and tons on the Laser forum site (I've got one of those too --also with the best of intentions of opening it up to reinforce my 79 laser). Hopefully some other folks here on the sunfish forum will have encouraging stories for both of us.
 
"...
Has anybody out there made such a repair and if so, how did it work out...?"
Now why am I feeling better about having my mast break? ;)

The short answer to doing this repair before...is...no. :(

:cool: However, I'd be tempted to do a step-ectomy—removing the entire mast-step by cutting a circle around the deck area and the hull bottom—and pull the entire works out the boat. (Using irregular cuts by hand, so the step can be placed exactly where it was).

Yes, you'd have to over-reinforce everything, but you could work from top or bottom of the hull, and the repair can be made stronger than "factory", so you won't have a problem there again. :)

Now pardon me, while I make a small cut in my new mast about 16" above the deck! :p
 
Hmmm. I like the "step-ectomy" idea with a slight modification: No inspection port. Sabre saw a circle in the deck just outside the cracked deck. Lift the deck section and mast tube out of the hull. True the tube to the deck and reinforce with WEST and cloth as needed. Epoxy in some wood "nailing strips" under the deck protruding into the hole in the deck, Clean up the "cup" on the keel that receives the mast tube. Put several layers of f.g. mat and cloth saturated in WEST in the cup - wet the bottom of the tube with thickened WEST and reinsert thr assembly and screw the repaired tube/deck assembly into the wood strips with lots of thickened WEST on the screw-in areas. Let cure. Repair/re-gelcoat deck. Go sailing.

Alan Glos
 
:) Ain't WEST the best? Sorta like your first day with a pressure-cleaner! :D

:cool: I like your modifications. They're even better'n adding an inspection port. :)

With a big piece of deck "out", why not reinforce the two styrofoam blocks at the same time? While making everything else much stronger, this may be a good time to add a few layers of cloth to the "tube" part of the mast step. Depending on the cut and your reach, you could also reinforce the halyard fairlead and the daggerboard trunk.

While it doesn't apply directly to your use of the wood strips, check out the home page of http://www.thebeachcats.com/ for an applicable technique.

As for WEST, I always use the slowest catalyst. While the brushes are wet, I look around the house and yard for other things to "improve" on—sometimes wrapping the brush in plastic, and keeping it in the garage's spare refrigerator overnight for even more "improving" the following day.
 
Instead of wood strips:

If you have a donor Sunfish, cut a doughnut-shaped ring out of the deck, bend it to fit inside the hole you'd cut. If you don't have enough clamps, use the www.thebeachcats.com home-page method to clamp the pieces.
 

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