Sunfish Mast Step Question

andyatos

andyatos

Well-Known Member
One of the Achilles Heels of older Lasers is the mast step. Through a combination of the rotting out of the wooden donut and breakdown/cracking of the adhesive that the bottom of the mast tube is pressed into, the bottom of the mast tube can pop out when the mast is loaded up.

I had this exact failure happen on the old Laser I have back east when I bore off in a gust. And it wasn't even that big a gust. The result was a badly torn up deck and an expensive repair.

I was wondering if this same Achilles Heel exists on old Sunfishes. We've got two of them, they are both old and we really like to bear off in big blows to see how fast we can get them going on broad reaches.

Thanks,

- Andy
 
A few people mention this, and I have seen it happen once. But it is much, much, much rarer in Sunfish. The mast rotates some while sailing, but it is not forced to rotate on every tack and gybe to the extent that a Laser mast rotates. So the step gets much less abuse..
 
I have owned many Sunfish and only one have I seen a broken deck due to the mast tube and that was actually on a Super Sunfish.
 
There was a problem with masts breaking in heavy winds (Curacao), but the mast sleeve was supposed to help with that problem. And, like the others wrote, the mast step on a Sunfish rarely causes a problem.

Other factors to consider
  • The Laser boom can be vanged much more than a Sunfish which stresses the mast step.
  • The Laser has this wonderful property to death roll; the mast step doesn't like this either.
 
Wavedancer, how does the vang effect the mast step on the laser? The vang attaches to the mast and the boom, not the boom and the deck so how would this create pressure?
 
powergroove said:
Wavedancer, how does the vang effect the mast step on the laser? The vang attaches to the mast and the boom, not the boom and the deck so how would this create pressure?
Click to expand...

Vanging the Laser rig bends the mast (quite a bit if you have the newer type of vang). This will push the forward part of the mast against the the mast tube.
 
We've got two 1960s Sunfish and haven't had issues with the mast steps (knock wood), and we've sailed in some high blows and had an, ah, unanticipated jibe that about dumped us. The school boats are pretty beaten up, but I haven't noticed any step issues there, either. We do shine a flashlight periodically into the step to make sure we won't be in for a nasty surprise.
 
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