Bristol 24 Mast compression

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Chris Crilly

I am having compression movement in the arch under the mast on my 1976 Bristol 24 (#655). I am considering cutting away the fiberglass head liner to expose the arch and perhaps installing a steel reinforcer or maybe a laminated wooden sister arch. Has anyone else had to deal with this problem and if so how did you resolve it? Any tips would be much appreciated.
 

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C

Chris Crilly

Thanks for the advice.

Thanks Okawbow: Do you think aluminum is a better (stronger) choice than steel? Perhaps you are thinking of keeping the weight down. Chris C.
 

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
Holy smoke! 3/4 inch Aluminum plate?

Time to do a little arithmatic here. We use 1/2 inch steel plate sandwiched between 2x12's to span a 16 foot garage door opening that is supporting the eves of the roof. 1/4 or 3/8 aluminum will be adequate and much less costly. Make a paper pattern and take it to a shop with a bandsaw for cutting. You could probably find a large enough piece of scrap at a recyclers yard. Make certain that the problem is in the arch and not in the supports at the cabin sole.
 
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Michael kelly

Mast problem

I have not had the mast problem but I saw this site on the web about a guy that fixed his Bristol 32. The site is http://www.kestrelboat.com/boat.html You might want to send him an email, as he may be able to point you in the right direction as he probably already did the research. There is also a photo of the fix on his site with a lot of other interesting information. Good luck. Regards, Michael Bristol 32
 
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Wayne

Fix for mast compression

The crack in the arch shown is truly worrisome. My Bristol 24 had no such crack, but I noticed that the "compression post," ie, port-side door frame, was not supported by anything but the 3/4" plywood sole structure, and had deflected downwards a little (maybe 1/2" or so). To make everything more secure, I cut out the sole in the forward cabin, and a 3" piece off the forward end of the main cabin sole (for clearance during installation), and trimmed about 3" off the bottom of the portside bulkhead, in order to install a 2" x 6" (true dimensions) fir floor under the bulkhead. I shaped it to fit, slid it in from aft, and glassed it firmly to both sides of the hull leaving a gap of about 4" underneath in the bilge. Then I made a new "compression post" out of ash, routing the same groove for the bulkhead, rebate for the door, and tenon for the arch as the original, but about 2.5 x the cross sectional area of the original and fitted it very tightly between the new floor and the arch and screwed it to the bulkhead. This baby is strong! Remember that the mast step has to be able to handle a peak load of about 2.5 x the displacement of the boat--15,000 lbs. I next filled in the missing piece of cabin sole, and am in process of fabricating a new fiberglass sole for the forward cabin which I am fitting with a teak grating to serve as an area for private sun shower baths. I have non-digital photos of the stages of the above project.
 
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