Guidance on '88 Laser Mast Step

PrimitivePaddler

New Member
I just bought my first boat this past summer. Now come winter I am trying to make a few upgrades and keep everything in tip top shape. I did a mast step leak test when I bought it and when I rechecked at the end of the summer and it held water both times. However, there is a crack inside the mast tube. I saw someone else that had asimilar looking crack and someone theorized it might be from ice freezing in it? Given that it looks somewhat severe I was thinking I should probably cut a inspection port and reinforce the tube with fiberglass. I was also thinking of adding a filler of some sort to the crack itself and maybe adding se glass to the bottom of the tube. I don't have any experience with fiberglass but I am a quick learner and enjoy DIY projects. If there are any good resources people recommend besides west systems manual and Boatworks Today, or any pitfalls to avoid I would appreciate any input to help me learn. I have also read a lot on here about reinforcing the mast step and was wondering if that is just a concern on older boats or if I should try to reinforce that while I'm working in there. It does seem to be a large donut on there compared to some I've seen.

The boat has inspection ports on both sides of the daggerboard trunk and appears to have some sort of sealant from past repairs. I think I will tape over the bottom of it and try filling it with water to see if that repair is leaking at all. Should I try to fiberglass that too while I am at it or just leave the repair as is? There are some areas that don't look great. I attached pictures and appreciate any help or thoughts from those of you who have experience in this department.
 

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I see no mast step expert has answered this yet, so I'll just say, if there's no problem (no leaks) then there's nothing to fix :rolleyes: It looks like that crack has already been repaired with fibreglass from the inside, if the patch on the starboard side of the tube (in picture 2) matches the location. That would mean the crack is a purely aesthetic problem, the fixing of which (gouging it into a neat groove and filling and sanding it) probably isn't worth the trouble considering the poor accessibilty.

Likewise, if there are no cracks visible in the area around the centreboard opening/bottom corner on the outside, there is nothing to do there either... and you can concentrate on completely different things.

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I appreciate the reply. You are correct in that picture 1 and picture 2 feature the same crack from either side. So you think that the mast was previously repaired? I noticed the discoloration around the crack on the inside and although I am not familiar with how fiberglass repairs look, I assumed it was a result of the damage since there is not a inspection port up by the mast. Would someone have had to crack the boat open at the seam in order to repair it then?

I will double check for any leaking around both the mast and daggerboard trunk as well as check the inside to look for any slow leaking. I am just quite worried with how that crack looks in the mast tube with having read and seen pictures of peoples experience with mast steps breaking. As far as boat projects go I don't have much else to do. I will rebuild a chip on my daggerboard, but my main worry has been taking care of this crack and not letting it get worse before I put her out on the water again.
 
Your mast tube wasnt repaired unless someone tried to apply something by dripping it into the tube - not likely to help.

Unless the deck to hull seam is in very bad shape I strongly recommend you not attempt to separate the deck from the hull.

You can wrap some fiber glass cloth soaked in resin around the tube to fix the crack you have.

I think most of the mast tube failures are a result of a failure of that putty like stuff, the "donut", that is between the bottom of the mast tube and the hull. Maybe its Bondo or similar. When that comes apart, and a large force is applied to the mast, the deck gets ripped badly.

You can chip out the donut and replace it with fiberglass and resin or if it seems solid you could apply glass over it. I've done that. Either way be sure to clean/prep the existing surfaces.
 
So I was away from home for a few days but got back and started sizing up what I wanted to as far as repairs. With having the boat on the trailer and being so preoccupied with the mast tube I completely missed that the bottom of the center board trunk is cracked as well. It looks like most of it is concentrated along the leading edge with a couple cracks towards the back of it.

When I shone my flashlight on it inside the hull and looked from the bottom I could see light shining through. So I don't think it is watertight. So I will grind those down from either side and reinforce it with more fiberglass. Over the summer I kept getting a bit of water in the hull and kept finding small sources that could be it such as loose rudder fittings and a few unsealed deck fittings. Hopefully fixing this will finally resolve that. While I'm at it I am planning on cutting a new inspection port and reinforcing the mast tube as well. I will also probably lay some more glass on the bare looking area in the inside of the daggerboard trunk whole reinforcing the back of the cracks. I have some extra time this winter and would prefer to do everything I can to fix it up and reinforce everything now. I would like this boat to last for as long as possible and won't be able to afford replacing it anytoke soon if something were to happen so I am trying to do all I can in terms of preventative maintenance.

To be clear I don't have any intention of seperating the deck from the hull, I was simply theorizing if it was repaired how it could have been without an inspection hatch. During all the research I have been doing I managed to come across a thread of someone else with a similar but much worse mast tube (LINK). It seems the damage is consistent with how mine looks. So it doesn't seem like it has been repaired. I wonder if it was a case of having someone leaving water in the mast tube during winter that caused it as someone suggested in that thread. Thanks for all the help and advice.
 

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For what its worth those cracks around the trunk dont look much different from my boat, if I recall correctly. I dont think mine leaks there, although i do have some small leaks somewhere. My old boat(#555) has enough inspection ports that i can blow air in one end and out the other to dry it at the end of the season.

You can VERY LIGHTLY pressurize the hull and check for leaks with a soap solution. Use only a hand pump, as even 1 psi creates a large force that seeks to break the boat apart.

I agree that ice is likely the cause of the tube crack.

I think reinforcing the donut area is always a good idea, considering how much damage can be done by a failure there.
 
I must have some visualization problems with picture 2, as the different-coloured (yellowy) area looks to me like something extra applied on top of the green material. Also, I was thinking if you can get a camera in there, some fibreglass wouldn't be much harder :D

But if that is broken glass/resin, go ahead and install another inspection port (if you can't reach the tube through the existing ones) and do what you need to do. The gelcoat crack will remain a visual-only problem, and I wouldn't do anything to it. (Besides taping it for the duration of the repair so that no "new" resin passes through.)

The cracks around the centreboard opening are a sign that the bottom flexes there a bit more than the gelcoat can handle. Doesn't mean it leaks there. However, the aft end of the opening looks quite worn. The boat has very likely leaked right there in the past, as some previous owner has applied a blob of silicone from the inside (picture 4). I'd restore the shape of the opening with fibreglass + gelcoat filler even if that spot passes a leak test.

Leakage through any openings on the deck or transom is minimal compared with anything below the waterline. How's your bailer?

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Rob, yeah this will be inspection port number 4 haha. I will probably just do a pressure check and try to narrow down the leak source. Better to just figure it out and fix it rather than keep chasing ghosts. I was hesitant to pressurize it due to the mixed reviews I have heard about the potential amount of force introduced.

LaLi I'm not really sure what to make of it. It does kinda look like some sort of repair but I don't know how it would have been done since the nearest inspection port is on the sloped part of the deck directly adjacent to the daggerboard. Here's another picture I took last night, but I'll get to the bottom of it once I gmcan get a new hatch cut and take a closer look. Yeah I'll pay attention to that posterior part of the daggerboard trunk and make sure I get that all sealed up. I didn't see any major issues when I was looking at the bailer but I can get some pictures and do a detailed inspection tonight.
 

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That does look like someone applied something to the tube. Even so it doesn't add much strength. And since the crack seems to go to the bottom of the tube, I'd reinforce it.

Estimate the force exerted by hull pressure by estimating the deck area (near 6000 square inches) then multiply by pressure in psi (pounds per square inch). Thus even 1 psi will apply around 6000 lbs of force to separate the deck from the hull.

I dont know if 1988 boats included this (LaLi or others likely know) but you can get a stainless steel disk to cement to the bottom of the tube. This prevents wear to the bottom of the tube, especially important if sand is plentiful.
 
I dont know if 1988 boats included this (LaLi or others likely know) but you can get a stainless steel disk to cement to the bottom of the tube.
You can place a max 1 mm thick disc of any material down there, and it doesn't need to (but can) be permanently attached. Many seem to take it for granted that there's a stainless one moulded in by the builder, but I haven't seen compelling evidence for that. It's one of the many technical details I plan to check once the weather permits... which may take some time.

IMG_0058.jpg


( :D Taken this morning, from my bedroom window.)

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Easy, use 2" roll with E-glass. Pre-wet with epoxy in 2ft lenght. Make 10pieces ? for the long crack and roll them on. Here I have 4 x 2ft x 2". Rub first with sand paper/ file. Its easy in cold weather, you have more time before it gets cured/unworkable. Heat up after work. Its also ok to coat the work with adhesive cheap painting tape, to get a better smooth result/finish. You see a small fling stikkikg out here.
 
One thing I haven't been able to find much info on: What would be the best way to apply the fiberglass on the tube (up and down vs wrapping around, overlapping all the way on top of itself vs doing smaller sections multiple times)? HelgeS is that epoxy on the bottom thickened with a filler? I haven't seen such a white opaque finish before. Did you also lay the glass just below the yellow tape or just the strip at the bottom?

I cut the port and have now cleaned and prepped the surfaces. It was a real pain to get that donut out so I can get to the bottom of the crack. Which I know is the point, but with some of the posts I've read I expected it to be a lot easier. After splashing around with some acetone and cleaning the tube up it becomes a lot more clear that it is in fact a crack that was seems to have dirt/ contaminants deposited around it.One fun little thing that I did to make things easier was use an old laptop and webcam taped inside the hull to let me see what I'm doing on the far side of the mast tube. It was really helpful to be able to see what I was doing at a few key points.

Since I should have plenty of glass and epoxy so so I'm planning on using some scrap wood to practice laying some fiberglass prior to doing it through an inspection port on a vertical surface. I'm not in any rush so I want to make sure I get the hang of it so I can do it right.
 

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The white cake is chopped fibers from woven E-glass. Here are som picts from the first boat. I repaired a leaking mast step. Acetone is not enough? I used a grinder and sandpaper before epoxy work.

The picts upper here is my second boat. Here the maststep was totally broken. I have cut it in halv, removed the whole upper part and reglued it. I removed the bottom square, it was wet plywood. The mast was new sentered, bottom glued first, than upper part and then I wrapped the cut with woven E-glass roll. Strips of 2ft x 2" prepeg. The mast is mostly pressing the lower part. The tube has a wall 5mm thich (that varies a bit). So when you wrap around, there should be around 5-6 layers, maybe more. The roll I bougth from china is prettty thin, maybe 100g/m2.

After removing the square piece, there was a hole in the hull!!!! So I had to pad up with many layers. The cake is both high to support the mast forces and wide to give more structural stability to the boat. This might not be within the rules, but the rules are not public. Anyway, this boat is for training purpose and fun only.
 

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