I just bought a 1986 capri 14.2 and am excited! I noticed that the screws that hold the stainless steel mast foot are loose and the wood is a little decayed. What is the best way to repair this area? I want to be ready for the spring/ summer sailing season.! This is my first sailboat in 30 years ( had a hobie cat back in the early 80s) Thanks!
Hi Bill. I just joined the forum and I purchased a 1985 Capri 14.2 a couple of months ago. As a new owner myself I am certainly no expert... But, I would suggest new (maybe even larger) screws to attach the mast foot. You mentioned the wood is decayed. Do you have wood on your mast step? It appears that my mast foot bracket is only attached to the fiberglass. I have thought about reinforcing it with a piece of wood under the mast step inside the cabin area. I know that any loose fittings or loose rigging can cause some pretty significant damage with crazing to the gel coat and fiberglass. My stainless steel plate appears to be bent slightly and it creates a gap between the mast and the foot. I hope to get it straightened so that the mast has a tighter fit.
Perhaps the engineers in their mind numbing wisdom actually made the base too secure! It could be that the base should be attacked just tightly enough to the deck to prevent the screws from ripping out with the tension load created while stepping the mast or the breaking of a shroud. If the screws could withstand this tension load then there is little doubt they would survive the shear load with ease. With this approach little damage would be experienced if shrouds were to break - the screws would simply pull out of the deck leaving only the stripped holes to repair. The whole repair would consist of putting a few drops of epoxy into the stripped holes and remounting the mast bracket with new screws.
yep, great sport - something for everyone... FYI, I have and fly a Stearman and love aerobatics. Drag, laminar flow, parasitic all that stuff means little in that old plane; fact is, it is pretty much all drag. Guess that is why I work so hard to eliminate drag and such inthe C14 - just because it is possible and I can
On my 14.2, which I recently bought and restored, I drilled out the old holes, filled them with epoxy, and let it set. Then I simply drilled new screw holes and screwed down the mast step using the same sized screws as the old ones. Why do something so simple? As far as I know, the original design allowed for the mast step/base to pull out from the deck in case of a de-masting; the original screws were set into a type of releasable epoxy, which would be way better than having the fiberglass ripped out, yes? It's working fine, as I had her out in high winds this weekend; a great rideI just bought a 1986 capri 14.2 and am excited! I noticed that the screws that hold the stainless steel mast foot are loose and the wood is a little decayed. What is the best way to repair this area? I want to be ready for the spring/ summer sailing season.! This is my first sailboat in 30 years ( had a hobie cat back in the early 80s) Thanks!