[C38] Mast step

[Tom T.]

Hello Phil,

>From the looks of your picture, your mast compression base is different than mine was.

My base was totally wood from the bilge to the mast base and I have no keel bolts under it.  All of my keel bolts were either in front of the compression base or behind it making my all fiberglass replacement base easier.

I'm sure you can replace your wood bridge shaped base with an all glass or metal base but you will have to allow for keel bolt(s) from what I see in the picture.

I built my new keel base by cutting a hole in the cabin sole where the mast base mounted.  I cut about 1" smaller than the base recession in the fiberglass allowing me to fill the material in from the top allowing gravity to fill my cavity mold. My mold was made from wood but any material would work for the mold, even probably a milk jug with the bottom cut out.  I wanted the compression base to be firmly attached to the hull.  My base now has two plastic electric conduit 90 degree angle molded in it to allow my mast grounding cables to protrude into the bilge.  These conduits also allow drainage to the bilge.  In the picture, you can see that I modified the base to allow one grounding cable to attach to the base.  That cable terminates to a connection on a forward keel bolt that was accessible when the holding tank was out.  The other two cables are attached to the inside of the mast and are being fed aft through the bilge when the picture was taken.  You can see the mast base is still corroded but by removing 1/4" I attained enough good material to mount it on the base.  The mast was being lowered into the boat when the picture showing the grounding cables was taken.  One of the aft cables terminates on a keel bolt, the  other is grounded to another keel bolt and continues to the engine block where it terminates.  These three cables are each about the size of a man's index finger.  I forgot the size number of these cables. 

After my mold was filled to the top with laid up fiberglass, I cut a piece of 1/4" aluminum plate to bridge over the new repair.  I had to dress 1/4" from the base of my mast it was so corroded from water accumulation in the base and the bedded 1/4" aluminum base gave back the 1/4" I lost dressing the base of the mast.  My base now has drains to the bilge and the mast base was painted and a heavy coating of waterproof grease was used between the mast and base plate so they shouldn't corrode together again.  If your mast base is not too corroded, you won't have to make the aluminum plate shim like I had to but making a drain for the mast base is essential to keep the mast from corroding to the mast base.  Without a drain, any water entering the mast will collect in the mast base causing damage to the mast and base.

Removing the holding tank makes this job much easier. I built an aluminum frame to hold the holding tank so it's no longer glassed into the hull making future removal very easy.  I wrapped and taped the holding tank with a cheap painter's plastic tarp and filled under the tank with "Great Stuff" so the holding tank is now supported in the middle.  The plastic sheeting is to keep the Great Stuff from sticking to the holding tank to allow future removal.  My original holding tank failed in heavy seas from the middle not being supported over the curved hull.  With the foam underneath, the entire tank is now entirely supported and not likely to fail again.

I'm hitting on three projects at once here so give me a note if you want any details.  I think I have more pictures of most of this stuff.


Tom Troncalli 


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Phil Gay 
To: Listserve at catalina38.org
Sent: 7/23/2008 10:43:32 PM 
Subject: [C38] Mast step


I took a photo (attached) of the under floor portion of my mast step.  It appears to have block of wood which bridges the bilge and which supports an odd shaped white fiberglass tube which supports the floor of the cockpit and continues up.  The gray-black box on the left is the holding tank.
 
Tom,
What am I seeing here? And what part did you replace?
 
Phil Gay
C38 049 Que Linda
Everett, WA
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