Mast Mishap

M

milfordguy

New Member
This past weekend I went out on my sunfish in some decent wind. I've been meaning to put on a mast cleat, but figured I would wait until this winter to install it while I was restoring the hull. I'm guessing that my mast wasn't all the way in the hull, which resulted in this. Any ideas on repair? Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance guys.
 

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Ouch; that looks bad, unfortunately!

At the very least I see a major deck repair in your future. The mast tube has been damaged as well. What about the mast step?
To give advice, please post an image of the mast tube and the mast step. You can probably insert a (small) camera through the hole in the deck and shoot a few more pictures.

LaserPerformance sells an (expensive!) repair kit for similarly damaged Lasers, but I have not seen an analogous kit for the Sunfish.
 
I'm not with the hull now, but I will get pictures up hopefully tomorrow night. The mast tube came dislocated and is not just sitting inside the hull. Is the mast step the very bottom part where the mast would rest when using the sunfish? Sorry I'm not 100% sure what the step is...
 
Yes, the mast step is the 'structure' used to connect the mast tube to the bottom of the hull.

At the top, the mast tube is connected to the deck via a flange. That connection is broken and must be repaired as well.
Here's a link to a thread related to a similar, but less serious, problem:
http://www.sunfishforum.com/showthread.php?t=30174

If you use the Search function (in the upper bar), you might be able to find other threads that are relevant.

It might be useful to tell us the year your boat was built. Mast step construction may have changed a bit over the years.

More in general, are you willing and able to spend a considerable amount of time and effort on a possible repair?
 
milfordguy said:
Is the mast step the very bottom part where the mast would rest when using the sunfish? Sorry I'm not 100% sure what the step is...
Click to expand...

mast step - The place that supports the bottom of the mast. The mast step usually has a built in pattern fitting a matching pattern on the bottom of the mast [like a ball and socket], enabling the mast to be accurately positioned.
http://www.boatmall.com/Learn/terms/m.htm
Click to expand...
In the case of a Sunfish, it's a tube the mast fits down into.



Installing the mast tube and daggerboard trunk using a fixture to insure they are straight
4907068790_2b8d7d4cbb.jpg



milfordguy said:
I'm not with the hull now, but I will get pictures up hopefully tomorrow night.
Click to expand...
Stick a work light inside so the innards are visible in that dark abyss.

4907068808_84792e44ef.jpg



milfordguy said:
The mast tube came dislocated and is not just sitting inside the hull.
Click to expand...
That would explain the mishap.

Is the tube still in one piece even though it's broken free from the deck and hull bottom?


What likely happened is, the mast tube base broke free from the hull bottom. Leverage of the moment did the rest.


4907068764_c6501e9f17.jpg

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I think you will be headed down the same path as this recent repair...



.
 
Thanks a lot guys, I just got the sunfish home for the winter tonight, so I'll try to get some pictures up of the inside tomorrow. I appreciate the help
 
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