broken mast and Maststep repaired

Hi all,

After more than a year, Primus is a sailing boat again. Last year the mast broke in a storm, about one inch above its foot. Before it came down the area around the maststep showed some cracks and it seemed to be badly damaged. In a previous post I showed some picture of the top beam after I opened the deck from above.

I am happy to report that I was able to fix all of that (thanks also to Greg for some advice), using generous amounts of epoxy and glassfibers, I rebuild the deck from above. I also replaced the majority of the inside sandwich cabin roof, which had significant de-lamination. I replaced all the balsa core with foam plate and laminated an extra hardwood plank across the cabin roof further supporting the maststep. Regardless, I reinstalled the original mastsupport.

I post some pictures below. You'll notice that the mast sits on an extra piece of laminated plywood. It compensates for the loss of an inch of the length of the mast. I also thought it would not hurt to have this block distribute the weight over a larger area of the repair. What do you think?
New shrouds as well, and replaced and laminated a new hardwood plank inside the cabin through which the shrouds are connected. I also replaced some bend hardware.

We had a first test sail yesterday, with 12 knots gusting to 18, and everything went perfect. The deck seems super solid. Very happy to have been able to repair this and save our boat from becoming a canal motorboat!!

The list of jobs still to do is nevertheless very long. I plan to have it out of the water in a month to redo the painting and refit all hardware.

Thanks,
Bobby

Glad your hard work paid off, great job.  I have been reading your original post looking for learning points.  

I notice around the gel coat where the hard wood is on mg seahawk there's some stress cracks at the edge.  I don't believe the hardwood has become wet from lifting the mast foot and inspecting.  Rather, I suspect as the mast has been in position for years an the shrouds, at least the lower ones, were somewhat loose the mast had room to sway and apply uneven pressure.   I'm thinking a should chizzle out the stress cracks and apply resin to reseal.  Anyway, hopefully I don't need to rip the hardwood out.  If I do mind, I agree that that extra ply on top can surely only had further strength.  

Thanks for sharing your work, it inspires me to crack on.

Hi Michael,

Thanks, and indeed, this forum is tremendously useful to learn and keep our boats in good condition.

Applying resin to reseal is a good idea. I would think that it also indicates that you need to reinforce the mast support. Stress fractures are likely there because there is room for this area to flex. Therefore, I added an extra support beam inside the cabin. I think my mast step is now rock solid and all force is directed to the hull, not the roof!

Good luck and happy sailing,
Bobby