My Turn in the barrel... mast step repair

[L84dinr]

Well, I have gathered the necessary "stuff" to start a repair on the mast step. I wasnt sure if there was anything wrong with the bottom of the tube where it is affixed to the hull; but I knew the inside of the tube needed work. Someone had poured epoxy in the tube and evidently the boat wasnt level. As you can see in the first picture there was a bubble in the bottom of the tube. So i cut a length of pipe ( i had some light duty gauge pipe left over from making gates) to protect the tube and started "sanding". The sandpaper would get hot and the glue would turn loose of the sand paper; so i ended up using some course material which i cut down to fit the tube. this would work well enough. I ended up dropping the "floor" of the tube down to about 14 1/8". I basically removed about 3/4 of an inch of material.
I cut the deck for an inspection port to build up and/or repair the bottom of the mast step. The bottom of the mast step actually looks pretty good. WOW. I will still sand the entire area; build a little fillet of epoxy and coillodal around the bottom of the tube and then apply strips of fiberglass around the tube down to the hull.

I want to thank this forum for all the helpfull threads which provide well photoed documentation so that i am not going into this project "blind". Speakling of blind... Man i am so close to cutting another inspection port on the starboard side to enable working around the entire mast tube. But I can get the job done fine like it is.

Thanks!
Raymond

 

[Kaiser]

yeah... I dubbed my boat the SS Inspection Port - but having 2 (both on the port side) made the job a lot easier. You could always use some glass underneath the deck to reinstall the piece you cut out for the second port if you want.

I've been doing a lot of glass work recently - it gets to be no big deal after awhile.
I switched from West System to old school poly - it's much cheaper

 

[L84dinr]

One other thing I have noticed. There wasnt any flotation blocks in the hull.

Is this something out of the ordinary?

Raymond

 

[49208]

Depending on the year, there should be either large styrofoam blocks or plastic air filled "cubitainers" in the hull, memory is a little fuzzy, but IIRC was sometime around '76 when they switched to the cubitainers..

The cubitainers can deflate and also move around to spots where you can't see them normally. Worth putting a camera in the port and snapping a few shots at various angles to see what is/isn't there.

 

[L84dinr]

Well I kind of suspected something was up when the mast step looked as good as it did after cutting the inspection port. Then upon reflecting that there were no flotation devices i stuck a mirror in the hole to see if perhaps a float had shifted, (thanks for the idea 49208). Well It looks as though the deck has been removed and re-glassed onto the hull. there is a flap of glass tape around the entire circumference of the hull to deck interface; and a bunch of glass material around the daggerboard area.

Am I correct in my assumption?

So, if done correctly i have a heavier boat at worse...

Anything i should look for or be aware of?

Thanks again.

Raymond

 

[49208]

most likely your assumption is correct - the hull id might help us, but as far back as I remember all the bonding between hull and deck (including cockpit/hull and deck/daggerboard trunk) was done with bog from the bulder, not mat and there was never any internal bonding done on the deck/hull joint, it was all done with bog in the rail.

As long as the boat doesn't leak, it should all be good.
Class legal ? Well as long as it has the required floation in it and no additional stiffening was done, should be ok.

Can't see a lot of weight being added - a lot of that glass is dry

 

[Bungo Pete]

Well It looks as though the deck has been removed and re-glassed onto the hull. there is a flap of glass tape around the entire circumference of the hull to deck interface; and a bunch of glass material around the daggerboard area.

I couldn't say for sure. Perhaps the Maestro will chime in with an opinion. One thing that would also indicate that it was separated and put back together is the lack of a Bondo "donut" around the base of mast step.

 

[Steve2000]

I recently purchased a 1991 Laser for our YC's youth sailing program. I didn't do the mast step leak test. I've found that the mast step tube has a very narrow and irregular crack about five inches long. The step will hold water up to the level of the crack. I suspect that the crack occurred as a result of water in the mast step tube freezing and swelling. The mast step seems firmly attached to hull and deck with no movement. Based on what I'm reading in this thread and the FAQ I'm inclined to put in an inspection plate on port side aft about 8+ inches from the mast tube. Take a look to see if there is visible damage to the tube. Then, make a decision on whether to simply seal the crack from the inside of the mast tube or add to that fix the interior glass work indicated. I've attached some pictures. Any advice on this approach is welcome or affirmations that I'm going about this properly.

Steve K

 

[jeffers]

Steve,

My 2p would be that you need to put a hatch in and reinforce the mast tube by wrapping it up. Once you have done that you can repair the damaged Gelcoat to seal it up and prevent water ingress.

Do also check where the mast tube joins the deck inside the hull, you may find (as I found when I looked as a club boat recently) that the bog that joins the deck to the tube has broken away leaving a large void.

The boat I did had a similar crack to your but not as long.

 

[vtgent49]

L84dinr- That's definately custom. I don't see where the glass in the joint helps much, except to hold the epoxy in place? But it doesn't hurt. The mast tube definately got extra wraps of very heavy stuff, looks bombproof to me. If it's not alot more than 130 lbs dry, then raceable, arguably legal (but just barely). I'd use the extra 1/8" to glue in a SS disk/washer, so you end up near 14". Don't put a second port in, as there isn't much to do! Seal it up, then do a soapy water test around the edges, etc. You should put cubitainers in (thru your port) in case you ever forget the stern plug like we all have.....

Steve - Yes, ice broke that tube. I'd put a port on that side, layer glass over the area to stop water ingress. Then maybe get some 10 yr old with gloves on to gouge a finger full of filler into the crack by reachinto the tube (wearing a glove). 5200, 4200, or gelcoat. Whatever you have. Rest boat on edge for this, so gravity helps. The do the usual checks of doughnut quality, depth, ss disk etc as discussed elsewhere.