Mast sag turned out to be a soft deck under the mast. The starboard pulley next to the mast had a leak that went undetected until the mast sag became noticeable. Removal of the pulley screws revealed that there was no sealant around the screws.
The mast was removed and a small section of glass under the mast area was cut out to reveal the balsa was full of water. I removed the wet balsa and scooped out both the balsa and delaminated glass from all four sides of the cut. The next ten days were spent drying out the deck before any repairs could be made. This was a challenge since the weather was extremely cold for May.
First a tarp was placed over the cutout as the forecast was for rain. During the day I used a hair dryer and shop vac blowing the warm air into all four sides of the cut, and closing the hole each night with plastic held in place with duct tape. Each day that the sun was out I removed the tarp and allowed the open area to be exposed to the sun.
On the inside of the boat I drilled four small holes under the top of the curtains and used two aquarium pumps each with two output hoses and sent the air from the pumps into the four holes. These pumps ran 24 x 7 and circulated air from the sides of the cabin roof towards the cutout area.
With a moisture meter I was able to track the progress and after ten days it was dry enough to start the fiberglass work. I realized the repair was out of the scope of my capabilities and a professional took over filling the hole with plywood pushed into the voids and glassed in place. We also glassed in an aluminum plate to take the load of the mast. He made a mold of my non skid and made a new piece to cover the cutout.
The attached pictures show each step of the process.
1. Place a tarp large enough to protect the area of the cutout over the deck to keep any moisture from getting into the area being dried out.
2. Cutout the deck where the moisture is located, then remove the wet balsa, and eliminate the moisture from the surrounding area.
3. Glass plywood into the voids where the wet balsa was removed.
4. Glass in aluminum plate under the mast area.
5. Make a mold of the non skid from the non skid area on the deck.
6. Glass the nonskid in place then cutout the area for the new gel coat area. Apply new gel coat, and paint the new non skid to match the original non skid color. The last two photos show the area of the sagging deck before and after the repair.
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Last edited by pmirenda; 05-19-2013 at 07:42 am
The mast was removed and a small section of glass under the mast area was cut out to reveal the balsa was full of water. I removed the wet balsa and scooped out both the balsa and delaminated glass from all four sides of the cut. The next ten days were spent drying out the deck before any repairs could be made. This was a challenge since the weather was extremely cold for May.
First a tarp was placed over the cutout as the forecast was for rain. During the day I used a hair dryer and shop vac blowing the warm air into all four sides of the cut, and closing the hole each night with plastic held in place with duct tape. Each day that the sun was out I removed the tarp and allowed the open area to be exposed to the sun.
On the inside of the boat I drilled four small holes under the top of the curtains and used two aquarium pumps each with two output hoses and sent the air from the pumps into the four holes. These pumps ran 24 x 7 and circulated air from the sides of the cabin roof towards the cutout area.
With a moisture meter I was able to track the progress and after ten days it was dry enough to start the fiberglass work. I realized the repair was out of the scope of my capabilities and a professional took over filling the hole with plywood pushed into the voids and glassed in place. We also glassed in an aluminum plate to take the load of the mast. He made a mold of my non skid and made a new piece to cover the cutout.
The attached pictures show each step of the process.
1. Place a tarp large enough to protect the area of the cutout over the deck to keep any moisture from getting into the area being dried out.
2. Cutout the deck where the moisture is located, then remove the wet balsa, and eliminate the moisture from the surrounding area.
3. Glass plywood into the voids where the wet balsa was removed.
4. Glass in aluminum plate under the mast area.
5. Make a mold of the non skid from the non skid area on the deck.
6. Glass the nonskid in place then cutout the area for the new gel coat area. Apply new gel coat, and paint the new non skid to match the original non skid color. The last two photos show the area of the sagging deck before and after the repair.
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Last edited by pmirenda; 05-19-2013 at 07:42 am
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