1974 Hunter 25 The forward deck of my boat is very soft, the core is saturated and has fallen in on the port side of the mast step. I needed to remove the mast step to get to the problem. The mast step is secured by four stainless steel 3/8" dia. bolts. The nuts of the two forward bolts are exposed on the underside of the deck (above the head) and the two aft bolts are hidden inside of the compression post. So I had to saw off the heads of the bolts aft to remove the step. I removed the 1/2" of silicone that the previous owner had caked on, which revealed the hole that he drilled through to feed the VHF coax cable. This was the reason for the saturated balsa core. I epoxied the four holes and the coax hole and sanded the entire area flush. No more leaks! So here's the problem... Since I couldn't remove the two aft bolts, I pushed them down into the compression post. And now I need to reinstall the mast step. I think these are my only options. 1. move the entire mast step forward 1/2" to clear the existing pushed in bolts 2. secure the step with only the two forward through bolts 3. drill a third hole in between the two aft holes in the step which would secure the step with a total of three bolts. Oh yeah, since I can't get to the underside, I would have to use lag bolts for the holes over the compression post. I will use epoxy for all new bolts. I am going to pull out the entire saturated deck and solve that problem first. Which option is best? Will sail trim be affected? Is a 1/2 inch going to contribute to lee helm? Will two or three bolts be enough to secure the step? Are there severe lateral forces at the step that I'm not picking up on? Any help is appreciated. I still hope I can launch in two weeks. Thanks, Ike 'Freebie'
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I had same problem
I had to recore a large portion of my deck too, including the area around the mast step. I would remove the piece that the companionway hatch slides into. You need to drill out the pop-rivits that Hunter used for original attachment. Then you can open up the deck and get all the rot out. If the internal liner is in good shape you can recore the mast step area from above and reinstall the hood. On my boat, the internal glass was badly deterioated so I had to layup new glass on the inside. (Epoxy bonds very well to hair) To reinstall mast step in original position you can remove compression post. Its just screwed to the bulkhead. Be carefull not to strip screw heads as they are soft brass. I launched on Cayuga Lake last week and got out for the first time yesterday. What a great day. Hope this project doesn't slow you down too much. Rick
I had to recore a large portion of my deck too, including the area around the mast step. I would remove the piece that the companionway hatch slides into. You need to drill out the pop-rivits that Hunter used for original attachment. Then you can open up the deck and get all the rot out. If the internal liner is in good shape you can recore the mast step area from above and reinstall the hood. On my boat, the internal glass was badly deterioated so I had to layup new glass on the inside. (Epoxy bonds very well to hair) To reinstall mast step in original position you can remove compression post. Its just screwed to the bulkhead. Be carefull not to strip screw heads as they are soft brass. I launched on Cayuga Lake last week and got out for the first time yesterday. What a great day. Hope this project doesn't slow you down too much. Rick
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