Mast Support Failure!!! Please HELP!!!

[Bull Weber]

Hi,I recently restored an O'Day 20 which we christened "McGee" a few weeks ago on commissioning day. Man, My wife, daughter and I love our little boat, which we sail on Long Island Sound from her home port in Greenwich, CT. Sadly, on the way back from our first overnight cruise this past weekend, we were beating in about 12 knots when we heard a sudden "crunch" and the mast sunk about a half inch into the overhead. The supporting structure of the cabin overhead for the mast stepping heel was beginning to fail. We dropped the sails immediatey and motored in with loose shrouds.So now I'm contemplating a major repair. One option that comes to mind is a post inside the cabin. I would really appreciate any suggestions.Thanks and good sailing!Bull Weber

 

[Justin - O'day Owner's Web]

Ouch.

Bull,I'm sorry to hear about your predicament! Thankfully no one was injurred?A compression post is not a bad idea, but you want to get someone with a bit of boat building experience to double check your plan. There are a lot of loads involved here, even on a 20 foot boat, and you want to get it right.Also, what is the condition of the rest of the deck core? Since you may be into a major deck repair, you may as well do it all now and get it done with.Justin - O'day Owner's Web

 

[Don Evans]

It Can Be Repaired

If you cherish this boat, it is worth rebuilding. Its only time and material. But as Justin has pointed out you have to survey the damage. I am not that versed in structural knowledge on the OD20, but if there is no compression post in the cabin that failed first, then it was rot in the core between deck and overhead skins, an all too common problem, and unfortunately in a structural area. Its quite likely that there is marine plywood in this area, due to strength being required to resist the compression of the mast. If there is no post below decks then none was required and probably is not required if you rebuild the strength in the deck. It will likely require removal of the deck skin (this can be saved for replacement) to expose the rot, removal of the rotted core, replacement of the structural core and epoxy and glass to rebuild this area, and eopxying the skin back on. This will be a relatively big job, and will require some knowledge and skill on your part, but all the information is out there to be learned. Read and ask lots of questions and practise these skills first.I recommend Don Casey's "Sailboat Hull and Deck Repair", but there are many others. Good luck with your decisions.Don

 

[Cancundr]

Had the same problem with Mariner 2+2

Hey mate, I thought my boat was the only one that had that problem. To repair the problem, I put a 5/8" stainless pipe support inside, mounted to a piece of 1/2" thick ironwood, which I drilled a hole into about 1/4" deep to stabalize the support on the bottom, then I placed another block about 3"long by 4" wide up under the deck with the same hole drilled in it to stabalize the top of the support, which I bolted to the mast bolts. I caulked it and sealed it with marine caulk, and it seemed to work great. Good luck with you O'Day calm seas and fair winds mate.

 

[Peter Grant]

same thing happened to me

Hi Bull,I had exactly the same problem as you - on an O'Day 20. However I didn't have as bad a disaster as you did. On my boat, which I inherited from an old sailor (I think it's about 25 year old)some very rough reinforcing work had already been done to the very small cabin beam below the mast step. Plywood gussetts had been strapped to either side of the beam and through bolted. Even so, the deck still had a lot of give. Enough that I would not trust the rig in a good breeze, especially because of the extremely fragile mast step that has only about a 1 inch lip to keep the mast foot from slipping out. Personally, I don't think any kind of rebuilding job would ever restore enough rigidity to the cabin roof to do the job. I opted to build a post inside. First I roughly shaped a mast step out of a piece of 2 by 6 hardwood with the electric planer and epoxied it to the keel. I epoxied a 1 by 4 piece on the inside of the cabin roof below the mast step. Then I simply inserted a spruce 2 by 4 as a mast support between the two pieces. So far, the post is being held in place by two joist hangers so I can experiment with it. I'm going to put the boat in the water next week and observe how my job performs under stress. I am not a professional boatbuilder by any means, but I hacked around with enough makeshift repairs over the post 30 years to recognize the dangerous situation that we both have. The cabin roof is simply fatigued from old age and has gained flexiblity. I think the post is the only safe answer. And surprisingly, it doesn't interfere too much with the already small cuddy cabin. I'll let you know what happens (with pictures).Peter