Compression Post Club

[rsears54]

I am rehabing the interior of my 83 H34. decided to look at the compression post before laying the new sole down. Removed Teak cover and found soft spots on sides of post at bottom. The post assembly was lose (mast is unstepped) and appears to be supported by front verticle trim piece. I have seen some posts on this site about Stainless steel retrofits and think that's the direction I am heading. Would like some advice from others that have been through this.

Ron

 

[kloudie1]

H-34 Compression Post

If that is the only problem, bottom soft spots.. then probably from water ingress from shower. If no rot on top, then deck support is probably OK.. The stainless replacement (Claude Auger did a fine one) is very elegant and will be expensive unless you have the capability to do most of the work. I posted some notes with pictures of my repair.. I only fixed the things that were rotten; and those were all at the top.. Make sure the top of yours is pristine.. Now is the time to do it with the mast down. I repaired mine with the mast up, but that complicates the repair a bit.. My repair was to replace the rotted deck beam wood with a big block of aluminum and gouge out and replace the top wood of the post that was rotted. I then treated the post innards with copper napthenate to prevent rot.

 

[Steve Dion]

We had a stainless post made. The post was then re-trimmed with the original teak. Our H31 also had some damage in the bulkhead, so that was also replaced. The company that did ours used formica inside the head area.

You should also check the crossmember for any decay.

 

[rsears54]

Steve, Claude,
Thanks for the reply. My boat has the large black mast shoe as I've seen in pics on this site. Have a few more screws to remove on the head side trim then post will be free- will know more about the top condition. Think I will remove the shoe and rebed it. Any recommendations on what to use?

Ron

 

[Steve Dion]

Assuming that you do not have any major issues with the compression post, you can decide on how to replace the wood inside. I think an aluminum box tube would also work well in this situation.

I think you need to pay special attention to the drip tube for the wires. This is one of the thing that has caused issues for many Hunter 31/34 owners.

I would probably recommend butyl for bedding the step. Be sure that the weep holes are all cleaned out too.

 

[rsears54]

Finished removal of the post. It had been worked on previously - bottom sections patched and rotten. Post had about 3/16 clearance to beam. Looks like trim was carrying most of the load. Question - what does the structure look like inside the beam?

 

[Steve Dion]

Which beam? The actual post or the crossmember?

The compression post was originally made from pine. There is also wood inside that crossmember that can also be rotten.

Our H'31 had a rotten bulkhead too.

 

[Claude L.-Auger]

Ron, I sent you by pm a complete pdf print out with pictures on how I did the job. My computer crashed and I'm using my wife's so don't know whether you received it or not. Can you confirm if I need to re-send. Thanks

 

[rsears54]

Claude, I did receive the file - thank you very much. Tried to reply to the email address it came from but it kept getting bounced back. Looks like your repair turned out great!
This boat has the large black casting for a mast step. I am told the deck was opened up around the mast and repaired a few years ago - survey indicated moisture. Also told the problem was a fiberglass issue not water. There has been a previous repair to the post. Bottom sections of the post replaced and that is where the rot is. The teak trim was screwed to the post. Top of the post is solid but little bearing area left after the wire chase was cut - what a poor design. It looks like the trim was taking most of the load. The caulking around the wires in the mast step has deteriorated - looks like a leak path. What do you think of the pics I posted?

 

[Claude L.-Auger]

Ron, messages bounced back because I had made a mistake entering my address in my wife's computer. Situation corrected now.

As for your pictures, and judging only by what I see on them, looks like a poor repair job was done by PO. Like putting a bandaid where sutures are needed. Hunter installed a hardwood crossmember beam to help carry the load because of the compression post being offset, but in my case (and I suspect in many 34s), the workers running the wires got trigger happy with the saw and created an opening in that beam that is so wide that it allows twisting of the beam under load, thus deflecting the pressure to the fiberglass. I'm afraid you will have to open the fiberglass and clean everything out, then re-install a cross-beam (I went with machined aluminum but it could be hardwood) and repair the post itself. I have sailed over 7000 nm since I did it and have never regretted it as I feel the boat is in way better shape now than when I got it, possibly even better than when new ! Good luck with your decision and don't hesitate to come back with questions whenever you need.

 

[heart of gold]

If you look in the Boat info under Owners Modifications you will see a number of ways of tackling the problem including the my own method listed under "Mast support post fix from the top" Cheers

 

[rsears54]

Thought I would send an update and share my discoveries. Drilled two 1/8 " holes up into the beam. The first one (bow end of beam starboard of the wire chase) produced nothing but fiberglass. The second near the stern trim piece produced fiberglass and powdered wood! Opened the bottom of the beam and found severe rot! Poked the wood acouple of times and it basically fell down. There obviously had been water intrusion for some time. The wood was fairly intact to the starbord but the othe side was really bad. dug out about 6 ". So where is the water coming from? After cleaning the inside of the mast step I discovered some very High quality craftmanship. The wire chase was cut off at just about at the floor of the step. Caulking around wires was failling. After close inspection I found two 3/8" holes drilled in the floor of the mast step next to the wire chase. One of them intersected the wire chase about 1.5" below and damaged one of the wires. The other one went straight down into the beam! I think I found where the water was coming from. I think I am going to epoxy in pieces of teak where the port void is then epoxy in a SS weldment into the hole followed by a 2" SS tube with top and bottom plates. I'll try to take pics and post for the archives.

Ron

 

[Guillaume C.]

My last discovery concerning the water leakage to the compression post is that I have water actually coming from the mastlight cable, and I mean from INSIDE the cable! Somehow water get in at masthead and the only exit is where the cable is stripped inside the boat....

On my H34, the wood inside the deck beam had previously been removed so the new aluminum post rest directly under fiberglass deck... make sense. Altough the PO did remove a big chuck of the beam to do that, ideally I would make a hole the same diameter as the new compression post, remove the core in that place and epoxy the new post into place.

 

[Steve Dion]

The wires inside your mast should have a tube where the wires pass through the deck. The wires should shen have a drip loop. There are also small passages on the mast step that should allow water to drain out of the step.

 

[Guillaume C.]

No drip loop on mine. But I do not want water from the cable anyway since any water that drip would have to go on the cabin deck(floor) after leaving the compression post...

I have temporarily sealed the cable with butyl and it seem to hold, but best solution should be to seal the cable from the masthead when I get good acces

 

[Steve Dion]

I doubt you can water proof the mast from the top. You have two lines forward and two aft out of the mast head.

I would just put a tube in the step and create a drip loop. That is the way they were supposed to be comissioned when new. If you have a drip loop you should not get any water down the compression post. It would be a good idea to use some putty or other material in the tube too.

 

[Guillaume C.]

Ok I see what you mean. Yes I have installed a tube that goes through the mast step. But the water is not coming allong the wire, it is coming inside the wire (between the coper and the plastic cover) so at the first place the wire is stripped, the water get out... So when I say to seal at the masthead, it is only the "entrance" between the coper and the plastic of the wire I need to seal, not the whole masthead!

 

[rsears54]

Forgot to mention - there were no wires running through the beam. Seems like quite a bit of production variation at Hunter.