Mast Step Leak. Help!

S

sun4soul

New Member
Hello. I just bought a 1975 Laser. I knew it had some issues (moderate to severe deck delamination and some knicks/scratches). Before I purchased it, I read several threads on this forum about what problems to look for. I asked the seller if there were any issues with the mast step. He assured me several times that it had a very slow leek (1 inch down in 3 hours was how he put it). Well, I trusted him and bought the boat. When I got home, I poured some water in and it quickly drained into the hull! Ugh! I really wanted to sail this weekend!!!

It appears to be leaking from the very bottom. My question is, being an old boat that won't be used for racing, do I just drop some epoxy into it, or is this risky to not replace? I'm a novice sailor at best, so I don't want to take any chances on a potentially dangerous situation.

I've attached a picture taken from inside the hull of the mast step. You can see some darker spot at the base where the water has been coming through. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks.
 

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You should find out where the leak is in the tube. For a quick and dirty test, fill the tube with water and see how far the level drops.
The soap bubble test is better and will reveal if there are multiple leaks.

Whatever, a repair from the inside of the hull is (much) preferred. Does your boat have a port to access the mast tube?
 
Thanks! I did the water test and it pretty much drops all the way down (there might be 1/8" or less that stays in). It appears that there are cracks around the circumference of the base of the tube. I have an inspection port, but it's much further back next to the center board, so I don't think repair from there is possible.
 
How many times do you want to fix it ;) ?

Step 2 - You can pour a new base right down the tube (there are a number of threads posted here explaining the how to's), 60-70% chance the leak will be gone and cross your fingers that the donut stays in place while you own the boat, when it doesn't, or when the leak is still there, proceed to step 1

Step 1 - Put in inspection port in the deck near the mast and strengthen the tube/donut (there are a number of threads posted here, as well as Gouv's how to on his site), and then proceed to step 2 and finish the job with a new base poured down the tube.
 
you won't be able to repair from the inspection port next to the centerboard trunk, you might be able to see in there if you're creative,

you should put a port in closer to the step so you can reach the base of it, I put one on my current boat (1990) after it developped a slow leak in the step, you can see it here (starboard side)


I filled the bottom of the tube with a small amount of resin because it was worn down and reinforced the step and base of the tube from the inside with fiberglass,

be sure to leak test the inspection port,
 
Sharing my own experience sailing an old '73 boat, on which the bottom of my mast tube came unglued from the bottom of the hull-
I'd certainly suggest that you start right off by doing what 49208 calls "Step 1" --- that is, cut a port into the foredeck, and reinforce that donut, real good. The reasoning...
- If ( / when?) that mast tube-to-hull joint lets go, the falling mast rips the deck up real bad. REAL bad. Fixing all the ripped up deck and structure is a monstrously difficult and time-consuming repair. It certainly was monstrous for me when I did mine. (And I'm not shy about building and fixing things... for example I built a Sailfish from a kit when I was 14 and weld and braze bicycle frames for fun. Not to be struttin' or anything, just saying I've done a whole lot of carefully hand crafted stuff over the years.)
- the leak in the mast step is only a SYMPTOM of a bigger problem. You don't really care that much if there's just a leak in the mast tube, if nothing else was wrong with the boat.
- the Real problem is that the joint between the bottom of the mast tube and the bottom of the hull is cracked and weak... the leak is just a telltale sign of the bigger problem.
- The preventative step of reinforcing the mast tube-to-hull joint thru a port is an oh-so really simple job by comparison.
- I've never heard of the mast tube itself failing (tho I'm not an expert), but I certainly HAVE seen dozens of older boats at our little local club alone, where the bottom of the mast tube came unstuck from the bottom of the hull, and the falling mast tore up the deck. Seems like more than half of the older boats have inspection ports and have either reinforced the tube-to-hull joint, and-or show obvious signs of extensive deck repairs too. But the key thing is... the failure seems to always be that the bottom of the tube comes unstuck from the hull while the tube itself stays essentially intact. It does not seem that the tube itself fails. So it doesn't seem like putting epoxy into the mast tube to stop the leak is going to do a lot to prevent the mast tipping over and tearing up the deck.

On my boat, they secured the bottom of the tube to the hull by setting the bottom of the tube into a plywood "donut" (a square with a circle cut in the middle). The joint wasn't real well done when new - it looks as tho they just dropped a big blob of epoxy into the "donut hole" and then dropped the top deck piece (with the mast tube) on top of that blob. So when water leaks from the tube it soaks this plywood piece til it swells, and between that and freezing-thawing the water soaking that whole area around the joint, the bottom of the mast tube just comes unstuck. And when that "donut" gets all soft and swollen and rotten, there's just no strength left in the material around the bottom of the tube, to hold onto it and prevent the mast from tipping over.

This is a GREAT case of an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure. My guess would be that it might be 2-4 hours and $50 to reinforce; vs maybe ... 30-60 hours? and $300-500 materials? to fix ... assuming you can do the repair work yourself, and the repair work is NOT a no-brainer.
The good news is that the preventive reinforcement IS pretty simple.

Anyway of course you get to make your own call. I'm just sharing my own experience with repairing my old boat. Good luck either way.
 
Thanks for all the great feedback! I dropped some epoxy into the tube last night. Using a little pressure, I worked it into the spaces where water was getting through (see picture). It seems to be airtight, but I realize this has little effect on the base of the mast step/tube breaking off the bottom of the hull. So, I'm going to see how it holds up on the water, and in the mean time order the supplies to put in an inspection port so that I can reinforce from inside the hull. Thanks again! Now, what about the deck delamination? ;)
 

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Is the deck delam in the area where you would normally sit ? How large and area and how did you determine it was "moderate to severe "? What's your intended use for the boat ?

Those answers will help in suggesting what you might consider doing...
 
It's not much of an issue at all where I would sit. I suppose I'm not sure what moderate to severe would be, as I haven't seen this before. It just seemed like something that might need to be addressed. The worst of it is in the photo I've attached. My intended use is purely recreational. I'm not going to race or get into anything too crazy.
 

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for the delamination drill a series of small holes in it and use lots of masking tape to cover the rest of the area don't be shy with the masking tape or you'll regret it and inject epoxy resin into the void then place an LDPE sheet over the top and a piece of hardboard on that place as much weight as is reasonable (the 20kg gym weights are great as they are about the correct weight for the surface area that they occupy a bit more or a little less wont matter too much) to the affected area this will re adhere the top layer to the foam this method works for 90% of cases its a great trick of the trade.
 
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