Securing Mast Step

[Viesail]

Have a question about the attachment of the Mast Step for an H22

Mine is bolted through the deck with the nuts in the ceiling. I've asked before on here if the anyone would suggest reinforcing the bolts with a backing plate. I was told by several members that through-bolts are a bad idea and that I should epoxy the holes and reattach the Mast Step with 1 inch wood screw, so that if the mast comes down ever, the deck around the step won't be ripped out.
How was the Step originally secured to the deck? The folks at Hunter and West Marine say that I should keep the through-bolts. I'm confused.

(BTW- The picture of the bolts is flipped 90 degrees on here for some reason?)

Many Thanks.

Barret

 

[redhead78]

Barret, I am about to reinstall mine it has bolts also. Does your step, have a slight protrusion up, that the mast fits over, in like a oblong channel same shape as the bottom of the mast that it fits into and keeps it from moving side to side, the rigging then actually holds it down.I believe the idea is, to bed the mast step plate wf butyl tape, pull it down with the bolts snug, this should keep the area water tight. Some smaller boats have a hinge bolt .Do u have a pic of the top of the mast step plate.... Red

 

[redhead78]

Barret here is a pic of mine pre cleaning and painting, its still a work in progress...Red

 

[Viesail]

My Mast Step

 

[Ray T]

Nothing to be confused about. Stick with the builders specifications. If in the unlikely event you should lose your mast there is not enough mast step protruding into the mast to grab and cause damage to your cabin top.

 

[caguy]

I have seen the mast base ripped out of the deck when the mast was being raised on a Mac 25. They were slimply raising the mast and the mast hadn't gotten away from them. The mistake they made was that they did not partially raise the mast before trying to pull it up with the gin pole. As a result the were lifting the base of the mast and not the top. With a 30' mast tremendous forces can be generated. Mine and most other bases are attached with large wood screws. Once the mast is up the downward pressure will insure that the mast is going nowhere.
Using some simple logic and common sense can save you a lot of grief later.

 

[Viesail]

Nothing to be confused about. Stick with the builders specifications. If in the unlikely event you should lose your mast there is not enough mast step protruding into the mast to grab and cause damage to your cabin top.

This is what I'm confused about. I've heard other Hunter owners say that there H22's did not have through deck bolts on the mast step. So I assume that it's a modification that the previous owner did.

This was the response I got from Hunter themselves on the matter of through deck bolts or 1" wood screws.

"Hello Barret,

I have no records that will answer the question. I do know that our standard for this is either drilling and tapping into an aluminum plate laminated into the deck or through bolting. In most cases we did both. I would suggest through bolting with a backing plate."

And when I went into West Marine on two separate occasions to get some epoxy for the holes and screws, I was encouraged to leave the through deck bolts in place.

What to do?

 

[Manny]

For whatever its worth, the mast step on my 1980 h27 was through bolted (only with three screws - but four holes on the step). I added a fourth screw when I recored the area around the step due to water infiltration. Never even considered using wood screws. If it it came from the factory through bolted, why change it?

M

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

I will ventgure out on this. I use to be a former small boat dealer for Hunter until retiring. I have seen mast steps secured both ways.

Regarding screws, it is easy for those to come out after alot of use even bedded with 5200. When I saw that, I recommended putting bolts in their place as it is more stucturally sound. Yet, I have seen where a mast has fallen ripping the bolts out. In that case, I filled in the holes and went back with bolts. Sometimes they were larger but to keep that from happenning again, I put a stainless steel backing plate on inside larger than the bolt pattern. This distributes the load and no more bolts ripping out thru the deck or cabin top. I suggest this route to go. I know it will cost more for the backing plate but it would give you peace of mind.

Crazy Dave Condon

 

[isaksp00]

I have an H23, and did have an incident while lowering the mast - it twisted to one side. I don't know how my deck plate is attached, bolts or screws. However, in my case the aluminum casting riveted to the bottom of the mast extrusion was the weak link. The aluminum rivets snapped, and the extrusion pulled out of the aluminum base casting. No damage to the deck or deck plate. The extrusion bent a bit at the very end, easy to bend back. I reattached the casting with aluminum rivets.

That said, if your base casting is similar, I doubt if a stay failure or other accident would be able to pull a bolted base out of the deck, so I'd be inclined to bolt through a base plate. Just see if the casting attachment to the mast is the weaker link.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

So often many forget that in addition to watching the mast go backwards (never forward), many forget that the biggest issue is not supporting the mast so it will not go sideways. That is the #1 prolbem when repairing masts of this nature.

If you ever need parts for your Z spar mast, they are no longer in the US but US Spars is identical to Z Spar. Long story but no need to mention why or what I know. They are located in the gainesville, florida area.

crazy dave condon

 

[Mark Major]

Mine has three lag screws and one through bolt- the through bolt only to provide an electrical path for the ground wire to the keel. Through-bolts are opportunities for leaks. As redhead said, the rigging holds the mast in place- if the rigging fails my mast will fall, and when it falls I don't want the deck coming up with it (however unlikely- it's a stout construction), so if the rigging fails, the mast falls, the weak link gives. I'd rather repair the holes left by screws pulling out of the deck than to have to replace a mast that was so well attached to the deck hardware that its aluminum buckles or tears. Suggestion: when using lag bolts into the wood use 1" hardware. Don't drill through the aluminum backing plate and thread into it with lags.

 

[caguy]

I also used large 5/16" screws. I couldn't find the so I turned them from ss lag bolts. I assumed the the screw are used because the compression post is in the way for through bolts.