ecgossett Posted February 20, 2012 Report Share Posted February 20, 2012 Here are some photos of the fun demasting today in about 12knots of wind shooting through some pretty fun waves. We where headed east shooting down the river with a north east north wind that was only gusting a little bit. Next thing I know the mast is sideways to STBD off the boat. I started the outboard and had Joe pull down the main sail. Next we headed for the south shore of the marsh, and the wind picked up the mizzen sail and lifted the mast back up. For the next 5 minutes while my 7 year old steered I kept the mast up (it was actually very easy even with wind on the sail) and Joe worked on getting the sail down. We ran up onto shore and took down the aft mast then motored back up the river. One of the problems was when the mast step failed it twisted the autobailer sideways. We where taking in a decent amount of water until we managed to secure it better but still bent and twisted. Contributing Factors: 1) Taking boat into heavy seas briefly day before with 30knot gusts. 2) Adding a cap on the mast bottom that was slightly narrower in places then mast, might have but more force higher on the step. 3) using small screws to hold it in place instead of bolts. 4) one or two joints failed but looks like a combo of that and a small piece of ply that delaminated. Positives 1) The seat did break and crack sideways, but looks like it happened from the end of the mast lifting up. 2) Spot was secured under mast, but survived. 3) some of the epoxy joints held on boot but ripped wood out underneath. 4) ripping away from centerboard trunk didn't put hole in boat. 5) boat was still very stable with mast down hard and sideways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffM Posted February 22, 2012 Report Share Posted February 22, 2012 I've had the end cap fail, and once bent the mast against overhead powerlines, but not yet the step. Mine isn't thru-bolted either, but secured with honkin' big screws. Best check the condition of the thwart while you're doing the repairs: I'd worry about the twisting stesses on it from the accident. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecgossett Posted February 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2012 thwart failed, bolts held, but wood cracked in multiple places along grain and deformed as the bottom of the mast came up. Temporary thwart with reinforcement is in progress until my dadod mahogany one is complete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterMoon Posted February 22, 2012 Report Share Posted February 22, 2012 I had the butt cap on my mizzen shear off on a windy day a couple of months ago. Fixed it with some very long screws.The mast step always looks good to me, but now I'm wondering as I'm headed down to FL in a week... Great, something else to worry about! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecgossett Posted February 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2012 I really think the 30knot gusts the day before might have been a significant factor in failure. For my temporary seat on the side of the center trunk with the mast I'm reinforcing/laminating the board with another 3/4" piece but going length wise instead of across on the grain. I'm also using pine this time as local lumber place doesn't have fir or spruce. Of course the strengths aren't that far different especially with it doubled up. Fr the mast step I'm using the one that came off, sanding it down, reepoxing inside and outside, then reattachment will include thickened and bolts into ss inserts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Designer Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 Ed, I am sorry that that you had to find out the hard way that the mizzen mast step is a highly stressed part of the boat. I guess that in a way it was better to have happened now than out in the Gulf in a couple of weeks. Studying your mast step, I see that it is square, probably 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" rather than the 3 1/2" x 5" specified in the plans, reducing the glue surface by about 50%. I cannot see the four 1 3/4" screws that go down into the keel batten. There only looks to be about 20% of the glue surface that pulled wood when it broke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Frechette Jr Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 Boy that Designer sure does have an eagle eye... I never really looked closely at that pic, but he is right about the dimensions... When i fit that step in I have it glued to the keel batten and also to the centerboard trunk and I fillet all around to the trunk and to the baltten and lay 3 strips of overlapped glass tape in the fillet and I use the screws... Likewise I fillet the mivven seat to the trunk and to the cleats on the seat bulkheads and tape those as well too. And I am now fitting a mast tube under the mizzen seat also. Not needed for strength but it is nice to just drop the mast down into the tube and not worry about seeting the heel of the mast in the step[. And it is nice withthat mast tube that all of the seats hole endgrain is well sealed and wwill not have the epoxy coating abraded and then allow water to ingress through end grain... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecgossett Posted February 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2012 For the new seat I'm going to 3M 5400 the seat top down to the centerboard and install some bolts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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