Mast step discussion

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MarkRyan1981
Posts: 165
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2012 7:47 am

Mast step discussion

Post by MarkRyan1981 »

I didn't want to subvert Bobs thread too greatly away from his own great efforts on his mast foot. I wanted to gather some opinions on my own mast foot and whether anyone had left theirs and what their thinking was? If I look at the bolts for'ard of the mast step, I can see they are rusty leading me to believe the truss itself likely is (this is the view looking aft from my for'ard bilge access hatch):

Image

I also have some slight cracking in the gel coat foreward of the mast, most likely a small stress fracture:

Image

I hasten to add we have done some racing in all conditions with lots of canvas up and in plenty of sea and she has looked after us tremendously and been and solid as you could ever hope.

Is there anyone in the 'leave it the hell alone' camp? I note some of you have done a huge amount of work to your Ballads and have not tackled this particular problem (my late fathers adage, who was a shipwright of many years, was to just get out and sail and stop worrying). I find myself in Bobs camp of eyeing up the sledgehammer and grinder and wanting to rip it out - I'm pretty certain my father would have been in the 'leave it alone' camp. What are your thoughts?
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