Mast Step

V

vguard296

Member
So im sailing in my clubs fall series and for the second weekend in a row someones mast step failed. Last week was 6 knots and this week was 15 with gusts to 22. One boat was a 90' and the other early 80's. I have a 93' and im starting to worry a little. I noticed there was a crack at the bottom of the step but im not sure if it was the previous owner fixing it. It has a porthole next to the trunk installed (not factory). What are some signs to look for that this may come or some ways to prevent it.

I can post pictures if that would help at all. The boat has some residual water that comes in through the screws on the rails but none comes out when its draining the inside just looks like its normal humid self.

I got the boat in June for $1000 in great shape with all the upgrades ,dolly, an old sail and I put a new legal sail on it for racing.
 
I am a retired professional boat builder/repair tech. Over the past 30 years I have bought/restored/and re-sold 85 Lasers. I have rebuilt 60 mast steps prior to them breaking and have never lost one. I do not use an inspection port. I cut a 3.5 by 5.5 inch piece out of the deck and go down to the mast step base. You have to start by digging out all the factory polyester putty. I use a surform plane. Then with proper surface prep, I do a full west system repair using 17 oz. DB glass. I glass from the hull floor up over the step and part way up the tube. I then have a method of putting the cut out deck piece in place. My experience is that all 1994 and earlier boats need this to be done. 1995 and forward are good. I have pictures if you are interested. I live in Falmouth, ME but travel all of New England picking up boats.
Stu Nickerson
 
I have done 2 mast step repairs, both on pre-80's hulls. In both cases the mast had worn through the bottom of the mast tube, allowing water into the hull and saturating the plywood block. The block itself is not what holds the mast base in place alone, it's the glass & resin that does, together with the 'goop' that's put into the mast step when the top is bonded to the bottom during construction. I found the grp to be well bonded to the hull, even though the plywood block was wet & decaying. I have not seen a mast step failure but I presume that the whole mast step/hull joint breaks loose from the hull.

All of the above provides preamble to my assumptions about what warning signs to look out for: a leaking mast tube at the bottom indicates that water may be wetting the plywood block, allowing rot; cracking around mouth of the mast tube at deck level indicates that the tube is moving excessively (in my case because it was no longer firmly attached to the hull, even though the plywood block was); both of these indicators may start well before the mast step breaks free altogether.

From what I've read on this forum I chose a preventative hatch in the deck & a medium size repair job over a massive repair job.

There are stacks of excellent theads on how to do the repair, starting with gouvernail's site.

regards

Andrew
 
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