Repairing Mast step for O'Day 20

[reisserar]

Hey Gang,
When lowering my mast at the end of last season the screws securing the mast step to the deck stripped out. Luckily we had the mast most of the way down at this point so no more damage done to boat or personnel.
So I was wondering about through bolting it right through to the cabin roof with a backing plate on it and watersealing with 3M 4200 instead of 5200 so if I ever need to remove it again for any reason I can. Anyone with any experience on this or thoughts on the matter I would appreciate it.
Seems like a better idea than trying to epoxy and redrill and screw into the old holes. Which was my original thought.

 

[Brian S]

Pictures would help. I've had issues with mast step on my boat, and I don't know if I fixed it or not. Mine has a compression post offset from the mast step, so I included 1/8" SS plate between compression post and under cabin. Tried to move the post so that it was more centered between mast step bolts. While that may stabilize it to an extent, I don't know what is inside the step under the fiberglass. Balsa core? Plywood? Not knowing what yours looks like at all, I can say that on small boats like ours, there shouldn't be a fiberglass cabin liner, so inside the cabin, the roof ought to be the underside of the deck. Therefore, through bolting shouldn't be a problem. Even if there was a liner, I don't think there would be any air gap between underside of mast step and compression post. Given what I think (but do not know) of typical construction of your boat, I would probably overbore, fill with epoxy, redrill holes, and through bolt. I did this on mine, to provide a compression column for each bolt which might help with issues if I have a deteriorating core, so that I don't have to cut it all apart and have a messy, ugly looking repair. We'll see how this season goes...

Sealing any deck penetration, countersink the outside surface of the hole before applying sealant. It gives a much greater contact area between surface and fastener than non-countersunk, and can prevent leaking better.