Looks professional to me....So I took the 1” spacer and drilled it on the drill press today....
Looks professional to me....So I took the 1” spacer and drilled it on the drill press today....
DOH! Never thought about that. Thanks.Ask your agent what happens if yo repair it badly
Thanks CC.Anyway, I think the simplest repair would just be to drill 4 new holes and re-rivet the mast to the base.
Thanks Peter. My greatest concern was for adding more holes to the base of the mast, which seems to me to be under significant load. There's a bit less material along the bottom edge right now. I didn't want to risk deforming the shape or having the mast "shorten itself" (crumple) under load from the shrouds and forestay. I have already noticed a slight deformation on the forward edge, likely due to falling forward a bit before the baby stays caught it.I'd use aluminum not steel rivets. If the mast tilts again, best to sacrifice the rivets and not the mast or fitting.
That is a solid idea. Can you go up one size on the rivets and reuse some of the holes... then drill a few new ones if you need to.How many holes can you reuse?
A photo of the mast base would help make a better judgement as to there being enough material left on the base to support the stress. Im assuming all four holes were ripped out when the mast kept going forward. You mention that there is a slight deformation in the forward edge of the mast. That is why I said earlier that the mast needs to fit square, flat, against the foot. That way the stress of compression is evenly transmitted from the mast to the foot. If the mast base is curved, only a small portion of the mast material is actually supporting compression force and it could deform under stress. The good news is the mast material is very soft aluminum, and can be shaped and corrected flat easily with a hand file. GSBNY posted in this thread a great idea used in his repair of using a large hose clamp to mark the mast for cutting. You could do the same by using a hose clamp as a guide for filing the mast square. Just test fit it to the mast foot before calling it done. Also, when drilling new holes, make sure the foot is pressed firmly into the mast when the holes are drilled so when its riveted the stress really is conveyed by the bottom edge of the mast and not the rivets. In other words the rivets should be doing nothing once the mast is up.Thanks Peter. My greatest concern was for adding more holes to the base of the mast, which seems to me to be under significant load. There's a bit less material along the bottom edge right now. I didn't want to risk deforming the shape or having the mast "shorten itself" (crumple) under load from the shrouds and forestay. I have already noticed a slight deformation on the forward edge, likely due to falling forward a bit before the baby stays caught it.
Thank you sir. I have an alternative "doubler" idea which doesn't render the mast foot into swiss cheese. I'll share it as soon as I can model it on paper. Thank you again.I would simply removed the old pop rivets drilling four new holes using pop rivets to the mast base
Thanks man. The break tore out two large triangles below the holes and I was just worried that mast wt + shroud force + forestay force + vang force + main sheet force + lunar gravitation might splay the bottom out after drilling more holes. I know I worry too much.I’ve gone the re-rivet route with my mast base and have had no troubles
This looks excellent, and is another example of how powerful this forum is. I can't even conceive of a problem. It looks factory, and you can remove it if you ever need to replace the rig. Yes, I will definitely consider this... Thank you for posting!So I took the 1” spacer and drilled it on the drill press today.
Yup - yup - yup! Thank you for detailing the problems with the welding solution. Consider the "down" forces applied to the rig: standing wt + shroud forces + forestay + boom + main sheet + vang + sails, plus the wave impulse forces that want to drive the thing through the bottom of the ship. I was warned about the annealing effect too by a professional welder. As soon as I said "extruded" and "anodized", he went all nervous and jerky. Just getting the TIG to arc through the oxidize layer was a speed bump. "Wait, you gotta grind off the surface? And then you're gonna make it weaker?" Ha! No. Thanks man.The problem with welding on the mast isnt the welding of anodized, anyone who can weld aluminum professionally can do it. The problem is the the mast is likely in at least a T-6 condition of hardness. 1 being dead soft and 10 being as hard as it can get. The welding anneals the aluminum in the heat affected zone down to a T-1 condition, so what was hard is now soft.
Yeah, I finally read down to that post and I am pretty much sold on the idea. I can't think of any problems, yet, but I have to keep reading. Thanks Pete.advice above to install a spacer
Aaaah, yes. That was my take as well. Rivets would be required on both sides, right? Keep it from deforming. But now we're looking at interior casting meat, and more swiss cheese at the base of the rig. I have a repair "doubler" in mind that addresses the "meat and cheese" issue (haar), but does nothing to reinforce the base. I like your "strap" or "band" solution, similar to wide pallet straps, but would have to be Al or SS, or maybe Ti (that whole galvanic corrosion thing). Thanks man.I'd be concerned about it splitting at the top of the hole were the rivet tore out. There is not enough material on the base cap to get a fastener on both sides of that hole to keep it from splaying out but adding a strap of some sort might be a solution.
Yeah, that's a fancy HDPE they can colorize. Perfect choice - thanks a bunch! I'll just need some longer screws to secure the step. And I totally agree about the saw. Scribe it and hack away! But how do you locate all the existing holes in the foot casting for new rivets? Does Harbor Freight sell X-Ray glasses?...I'd just mark it in what ever way you like and use a hack saw with a fine tooth blade. Much more control. I would not just cut straight through like cutting a board. I would cut around the mast. That way you will stay on the mark. Clean it up with a file.
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EDIT: Actually a quick search yielded this: https://www.tapplastics.com/product/plastics/cut_to_size_plastic/king_starboard/526
12" x 12" x1" $30.70. They will cut it any size you want.
Maybe you could use the piece you just cut off as a guide for the new holes.But how do you locate all the existing holes in the foot casting for new rivets?