Mast Step Damage - Happened Fast - Live and Learn, then fix?....

duckjibe

duckjibe

New Member
Hi,

My laser is a 2006 and not too heavily used. I inspected the mast step recently and it was in fine shape. Last week we went to Hatteras Island and we sailed the laser 3 times at Canadian Hole on the sound side. We had a great time, but the wind was pretty brisk, maybe 15-20 MPH. With that wind it wall all I could manage to get the mast in to the step and I did not think to pay attention to what might be sticking to the mast. I believe I probably inserted the mast with sand and small rocks which resulted in about 1/2 " of damage at the bottom of the mast step in an arc about 90 centered aft. The attached picture (if it worked?) shows the damage sort of. Hard to get a decent picture. It does not appear to be leaking - I've had water in it for over an hour and see no change. So, that's good news, but this is damage that I'd rather not let sit.

Can I use west systems and a paddle to apply some epoxy with filler down there, then sand with a dowel with sand paper glued to it? If so, do I also need to do a gel coat or can repairing the mechanical damage with epoxy and filler be all I need? How do I prep the surface of such a hard to reach place?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Duckjibe

 
I wouldn't worry about it too much if its not leaking, but if it is really bothering you (I would probably want it fix it as well), using west systems with filler will work fine. You shouldn't need gelcoat, as that would just be an aesthetic thing, which isn't important in the step. You could also buy one of those stainless wear plates that are sold to put at the bottom of the mast step and epoxy it on top of the damage. This would also prevent this from happening in the future.

The sailing must've been worth it though!
 
If your boat is a 2006 model, it already has the stainless wear plate at the bottom of the step (from the factory, it's covered by gelcoat, which is what you wore down) - If the wear is only on the bottom of the tube (and not the side walls), it's not a issue and you can leave it.
(if it bothers you from a cosmetic standpoint, you can just pour a small amount of resin to fill it back up)
 
Excellent, Thanks for the feedback.

I do have wear down to the factory stainless steel plate, but the new damage that I've done is on the side wall. I can't get my hand down to feel how deep in to the wall, but from the look of it I must of had a few fairly substantial rocks grinding away at it! I think I will try to reinforce and build it back up with filled epoxy and skip the gel coat step.

The sailing was great, though there are some shallow areas in Canadian Hole that I found with my center board (no damage), and the wind was a bit too much at times for my children (ages 10 and 12) so we sailed 2 per boat.
 
yea if you're worried pour a small amount of epoxy resin in the bottom while keeping the step level
 
I checked out your picture, and it seems to me that all you have done is accelerated the normal wear & tear by about 10 years. Most old lasers (20+) I have seen exhibit this type of wear pattern (from the normal forces the mast exerts against the bottom of the tube) and trying to paddle in some thickened epoxy down into the mast tube is problematic at best. I say this because you will definitely be able to get it in, but sanding or otherwise qualifying the surfaces such that the mast will fit, have the same height and turn is just not feasable in such a small space.

This being said, you should flush and clean the tube and then get a set of teflon wear strips from APS for the mast and a stainless wear plate for the bottom of the tube. If you sail her really hard, then you will eventually need to reinforce the mast step from the inside of the boat. This is a fairly common procedure and you will find lots of info on this site as to how it is done. Hope this helps.
 
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