Off the centerline is the key part. There's a stiffener about 4" wide that runs down the midline underside of the deck in my early-70's boat + I've heard others describe a similar thing. Then probably aft of the mast since you're thru-bolting those fittings. Like 45* to either side of the midline, either aft or forward of the mast.
While you're in there, if you haven't already done it, I'd sure reinforce that joint where the mast tube mates with the bottom of the boat. It's not complicated- just lay several layers of glass in epoxy around the bottom and up the sides of the tube. That thing has let go on many old boats, and it makes a right mess of the deck when it does.
Here's the underside of the deck of mine (1973), looking forward from an inspection hole that's right beside the daggerboard.
(The white/grey rectangular things are a bunch of 1/2-gal milk jugs for additional flotation.)
You're looking at the stiffener leading forward to the mast tube, and in front of the mast tube is the forward inspection port, which I put in to fix it when the mast tube broke. I didn't know about the stiffener so I cut mine right in the center. It sealed up OK in the end, but being in the middle made it a little harder than it needs to be. You can see the thru-bolts on the stiffener - the blocks at the foot of the mast, and the jam cleat further aft (closer to the camera).
<solid repair> ... Having had the mast come down once, and as long as I was gonna go thru the difficulty of fixing it, I was bloody well gonna fix it so I'd only be fixing it once, and it was a MESS -
But came out nice-
That was 2003. I have not had a problem since, even with sailing often in 15 - 30 kt wind. I did some rough math on how much shearing force is on that joint at the bottom of the mast step. Not sure it's at all accurate but I'd guesstimate it to be somewhere in the range of 1000 lbs static, so guess maybe double that (who knows really) at a "dynamic peak." So I was not shy with the glass + epoxy.
In my book, there is pretty much nothin' that'll beat an old Laser in the ratio of fun to dollars. Hope you enjoy yours.
I've replaced the fairlead that pulled out and I thought I'd post a few pics as it might help or encourage others to do the job.
My boat is 1978 and has the plastic polythene tanks for buoyancy.
Fortunately my jig saw missed cutting through one, so if I was to do it again I would put the boat on it's stern and shake the tank down towards the cockpit away from the mast area to avoid cutting into it. They are just put in there, not tied down or anything.
I reinforced the area with a plywood ring to screw the hatch screws into. In order to get it in you have to put one cut it in one place it and "screw" it in. I've done this job on lots of other boats and it's really quite easy.
The inside of the boat stank. Mould and old polyesther resin. So I've left it open for a week to dry out a bit. Mast step is ok and does not leak if filled with water, so at the end of November I'll pressure wash the area and leave it over the winter hanging up with the hatches off to dry so that in April I'll be able to reinforce the maststep.
The new fairlead is bolted through and before I put it in I filled the old holes with epoxy and when dry, drilled through the new epoxy. However there is foam underneath the fairlead so if you over tighten it you will crush the foam. Next time I do it I'll make a solid epoxy core so I can really tighten it up on something.
It's an easy job, took me about an hour and a half in total.
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