Mast Step - I'm so Dumb!

Senna27

Senna27

New Member
I live in Toronto, Canada and bought my first Laser No. 62359 in 1979 or so, raced it for 3 years and then sold it as I didn't have a place to store it anymore. A few weeks ago, my friend bought a cottage on Sturgeon Lake about 90 minutes north east of Toronto.

After a 24 year break, I decided to buy a used Laser. I found one which is actually a little older than my original one (1975 - in the 35000 range) but looks like it's in good shape. Even has the wooden daggerboard and rudder. It's got a few scratches and chips here and there but hey, it's a cottage boat, who cares. I did have a look at the mast step, asked if it held water and if it had been rebuilt. He said all was good, never repaired.

Well, I got the boat, took it up to my friends cottage last weekend and was going to go for a test run but the weather sucked. Overcast and about 46 F. Yuk. So, instead I decided to give her a bath. That's when I discovered the mast step leaks like a sieve. It goes from full to empty in about 15 seconds.

Any idea what it would cost to have it repaired? This weekend is supposed to be gorgeous and I want to go sailing! What to do? I'd appreciate any advise. Tks...
 
Senna27 said:
I'd appreciate any advise. Tks...
Click to expand...

Well, don't go sailing, at least not in that boat. You don't want the step to tear out. That will make for a massive repair.

The mast step repair kit cost $500, and that's just for the part, but guys around here just cut an inspection port and wrap fiberglass around the mast step if it hasn't blown. You can also see if the piece of wood at the base of the step is rotted, if you cut a port.

I'm sure other more experienced people can advise you more on details of what to do.
 
Obviously the dude's cottage boat isn't as well cared for if he didn't know it leaked...it could last a few more months or a few more minutes. I think the boat needs a good overall inspection.
I went sailing when my step leaked and was leading the local Thursday night dinghies to the top mark in about 12-15 knots of wind. About 5 boat lengths away the mast creaked and the mast step failed. I watched everyone sail by as I was now in the perfect position to spectate just below the mark with the mast in the water to leeward, then got towed to the beach. I went sailing a lot less for a few weeks while I did the (then $325) repair kit. I should have spent one evening wrapping glass around the bottom of the base as I already had a port in it.

The mast step repair kit is also ugly compared to a lost weekend of sailing to fix it beforehand.

Just my $0.02 as a newbie here but a Laser sailor for 20 years.


P.S. I am glad this forum is up..it has been very useful as I try to get my 86xxx boat back in shape. I recently spun around my mast section and thru-bolted all the fittings in the spar using info on this forum and from some names I recognize from the old Laser website days.
 
Hey sas... That's exactly what I don't want to happen! The guy I bought it from (from what I can tell) is a very experienced sailor who sailed the boat in Lake Ontario, out of the National Yaught Club in downtown Toronto.

The mast step drains completely when filled with water as it appears that the step is worn through where the base meets the side. I guess I'll have to cut an inspection port, have a look then glass up the base and install a stainless steel disc.
 
The drill>>>

Make that inspection port. Reach in and clean and sand the area up the pole and out from the pole at leqst six inches.

I like 40 grit or rougher for the task.

You can usually fins self stick Green Corps by 3m in automotive shops.

The glass work...

Make a kit for yourself. I like to use strips that are just over 2 inches wide (5 to 7 cm) and about six inches long...15 cm.

I like 1.5 OZ mat for the job. and good old polyester resin is fine.

paint the sanded area with the resin. Wet out three strips on top of each other on a cardboard surface, pick up the strip and smooth it in place.

Think of the task as if you could use duct tape to adequately hold the mast step base in place. . Apply the glass as you would apply the duct tape.

if you make a plastic and glass thing six layers deep that goes out six inches and up the mast six inches,the mast step shoulod hold forever and ever.

Inside...

Pout about two ounces of resin in a cup. Get some scizzorzzzz ( can't ever spell that word) and cut the tinyiest pieces you can cut intil you are worried you just cannot mix any more glass into the fluid.

catalyze that slurry and try to dump it without touching the walls in the bottom of the step. Think ffat necked funnel and core cardboard from a roll of paper towells.

( Don't be cheap...Buy a new plastic funnel and slice off the bottom until it is as fat as the cardboard tube.)

If the surface is not smooth enough, use that 3M green paper by sticking it to the bottom of your mast and twisting it around for a whiile.

Then you can either line the bottom of the step with a sheet of Teflon or stainless.

Back before the stainless disc was stock in Lasers, I Used to use a slightly oversized disc of 30 mil Teflon sheet. It stuck in the bottom of the step and never fell out.

Note..I did the bottom of the mast plug with west Epoxy once and the top of the resin was so sticky my gooseneck broke...That was when I first used the teflon sheet solution.

Good luck
 
Hey Senna,

If you want, my club has an old laser in which the deck collapsed, we are trying to unload the thing. It has a good step in it. I'm sure if you made us an offer we would sell the whole thing to ya, and you'd have replacement part to boot. And we are in Toronto. PM if you want.

Cheers
Mark
 
Hey guys, thanks for all the help. I'm going to repair my step this Saturday. I've got an inspection port, stainless steel disc, lower mast base plug, fiberglass kit, 3M sealant and a bunch of other tidbits!

It's been stored in my friends cottage since last Sunday with the inspection port located aft of the daggerboard open. It should be nice and dry by this weekend.

One more question, if I repair it Saturday morning, think it will be safe to sail on Sunday afternoon?
 
I don't know for sure, since I am not a polyester curing expert...I don't know if I'd go out in a gale, but check the cure times on the bottle/can and you might be OK. Heat (a work/shop light, etc..except not flourescent) will always speed up curing time once you have the repair completed.

One more suggestion just in case Fred didn't already mention it above...I've found that if you put a little silicone on the plate and hope it drops 'butter side down' you don't have to worry about it falling out if/when you flip the boat over and/or it sticking to the mast.
 
Cool, thanks... Actuall, I've got a hair dryer that I'll use to help cure the resin once it's done. I've also got some 3M stuff that Fogh Marine suggested I put on the bottom of the disc. If you roll up a piece of tape, you can lower the disc down using a broom handle.

Later...
 
Well, I repaired the mast step on Saturday. It went something like this... Cut an inpection port, dried out the inside with a hair dryer, sanded the area to be glassed, cleaned it with acetone, cut 8 strips of fiberglass matt 1.5" x 9", shredded some more matt, mixed the resin/hardener, took the shredded matt, mixed it with some resin, smushed it into the area where the donut and step meets, soaked the strips and layed them vertically down the step, over the donut and onto the hull.

In the 90F. we had to work fast. The resin went off really quickly, less than 10 minutes. We had to do it in three batches.

Once that was done, I cut 2 round pieces of matt the size of the SS disc. The bottom of the step had some cracks in it where the sides meet the base. I poured some resin into the bottom of the step, soaked the matt discs then dropped them down one at a time. Amazingly, they landed in the centered at the bottom, one on top of the other. Once it hardened up, I put some 3M sealant on the bottom of the SS disc and lowered it to the bottom by using some tape on the end of a dowel.

Then all that was left was to mount the inspection port. I waited until Sunday before I went for a sail.

On Sunday, the weather was perfect, wind was about 20 knots. Man did it feel good. That was my first time in a Laser in 26 years!

At the end of the day on Sunday I filled the mast step with water. Doh! It still leaks!!! Certainly not as badly as before, but leaks none the less. Probably took about 15-20 min to empty. I'm not sure what to do now.

I pulled the drain plug and there was a fair bit of water in it. I'll measure the amount next time. What is an acceptable amount of water in the hull? Do old boats all leak a bit? My is a 1975. (29355)

Any thoughts? Where else could the water be getting in?

Here's a couple pics of the repair. I forgot to take the "before" pic... Duh!

DSCN7803.jpg


DSCN7804.jpg


DSCN7805.jpg


DSCN7806.jpg
 
I don't really have a comment on your repair (well, actually I do ;), but it sounds like you could have some wear where the metal part of the mast rubs the tube (this may be 1/2 - 1" up the tube?? You did it the way I did it when I fixed my 86153 twice before it failed. Every time I tried to remove as much of the old donut material as I could since it would break loose underneath my repair and create pockets for water to find its way into the hull thru the tube. The resin you poured in could have leaked thru the worn spots before it cured. I found this to be the case with me. I think I remember someone saying 14" should be the depth of the step. Maybe you have a little more room to dump in some more resin and stop the leak. I would however, feel much more confident that at least the step is much less likely to fail after your work.

Incidentally, my boat does not leak at all, but I've only had my boat out once and the breeze went from 20 to zero. Another place to check is to see if the cockpit drain leaks...Mine was the plastic style and it cracked so when I thought I was draining water out the cockpit, a fair portion was going right in the hull. You can buy a ~$15 brass collar set for that now as well, and I also dug out all the rotten glass/filler/bonding agent in that area and stuffed epoxy with some filler in all the crevices before re-assembling.

A comment on your port. The next time you fiddle/install an inspection port, don't put screws in. They will now slice your arm every time you are working in there. I just use a nice thick bead of silicone and it keeps the port securely attached to the deck...a little minor coaxing with a screwdriver or other prying device removes it easily and no screws sticking thru the deck! It is unlikely in 5 years when you have to replace that port because you can't find the $3 o-ring that the holes will match anyway.
 
I'm sure some of the resin did fill in the the cracks at the bottom of the step when I poured it in. The donut was in near perfect condition from what I could tell, very solid. The depth now measures 14".

As for leaking into the boat, it looks like the previous owner installed a brass collar drain assembly. Maybe I should take it out, clean it up and reinstall it with the proper goop.

Re. the port, I put some of the 3M sealant on the points of the screws that stick out into the hull. I didn't use really long ones anyway. No biggie, it matches the other port by the daggerboard.
 
Senna27 said:
As for leaking into the boat, it looks like the previous owner installed a brass collar drain assembly. Maybe I should take it out, clean it up and reinstall it with the proper goop.
Click to expand...

I removed the cockpit brass collar drain assembly, removed all the silicone and cleaned up the surrounding area. I reinstalled it using 3M 4200 sealant then installed an automatic bailer. Although it wasn't very windy on the weekend, after 3 hours of sailing there wasn't one drop of water inside the hull.

I know there's still a slow leak in the base of the mast step. I plan to stick a light in the hull, fill it with water and see if I can tell where it's leaking from.

At least now I know any water that enters the hull is coming in through the mast step.

29355
 
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