Corroded Stringer

[JR6548]

Hello:The other day I pulled out the floor boards over by where the mast sits on the keel of my Citation 31. I discovered what I can only describe as two fiberglass stringers on which bottom of the mast sits on. One of the stringers, the one over by the forward bulkhead, is cracked and bulging. It seems that the stringer has an internal frame of iron. Mine is corroding and the spalling has caused it to bulge and crack.This seems quite serious to me since it must take a lot of compression from the mast.Has anyone run across this? How have you repaired it?JR

 

[Cap'n Dave]

All is not lost

Ahoy JR,Yep I sure have. It's not real hard of a fix, you have to unstep the mast and fabricate a new mast base. It is not an uncommon thing on older boats.The big expense is the haulout and mast stepping.Fair WindsCap'n Dave

 

[Kim]

No biggie

I had the same problem with my 31' Upon closer inspection it doesn't appear as if it is really an Iron frame ie- structural- rather iron pellets of some sort that were used for extra ballast inside the fiberglass stringer. With water intrusion they just end up rusting and swelling into a blob and in my case splitting the fiberglass 'beam' starbord of the mast under the forward door. I chipped out enough of the old pellets and just layered in a bunch of cloth and glass and haven't had a problem. Note the plate the mast sat on was fine in my case and there was no obvious compression/ sinking going on but I just shored up that area as well JIC. Be sure to fix cracks/ holes etc that may allow water in or you may find more swelling down the road. I did not unstep the mast. KimTrust Me?'84 Citation 31'