mast base

[matt195583]

OK on the base of my mast  one of the holes that the mast step bolt go's through has been broken away on the lower side, the aluminum is not torn only that piece missing. both holes are 2-3mm over size due to wear  , i took this into account when i bought the boat. I was figuring on having a piece tig welded in .

I was reading a post on the same problem, on the catalina web site forum .
there were 2 suggested ways to fix this problem.

one was to have a repair done using TIG.

the other was to cut base of the mast off about 19mm or 3/4 of an inch from the base .

my question is would losing 19mm off the lower end of the mast have a negative effect other than the obvious IE: lowering the boom 19mm and making the rigging slightly longer than required ?

As i am going to make new standing rigging in the next few days i can allow for the little bit of height lost . My order for SS wire and associated bits and pieces should arrive tomorrow  ;D

Or i can make a spacer for the mast step to gain back the 19 mm i would lose of the mast .

I will endeavor to post some pics of the mast base ....... and my new boat , I'm having trouble posting .

[AdriftAtSea]

Matt-

You can probably make a spacer for the bottom of the mast.  Without seeing the actual mast foot and mast step, it is hard to say for sure. Welding aluminum often results in it being far weaker than it should be, since most modern grades of aluminum get much of their strength from their heat treatment and the heat of welding removes much of this strength.

[skylark]

Is this a transverse bolt (running from mast side to mast side)?

Is the mast typically lowered by crane or by gin pole or ...?

[CharlieJ]

Since you are completely rerigging at this time. I see no real reason why you couldn't trim 3/4 off the mast, and remake the wires to match. You'll lower everything 3/4 inch- no big deal.

[matt195583]

Thankyou for the replies , the setup is standard to the pre85 catalina 22. skylark that is a bolt running side to side through the mast step plate and mast base itself , If losing 3/4 is no big deal i will probably go that way as it will be far easier than making the spacer or having tig work done .

again thankyou for the replies .

[matt195583]

[chris2998]

if you were near me I'd Tig it for ya although I don't have one that will weld aluminum mine just does carbon and stainless but could probally go to a friend who has one. I'd say anything used on a boat should be tig welded although mig is very strong if done correctly, tig is better I feel and looks better

[matt195583]

chris thanks for the offer , although i beleive the 7532 nautical miles may be a hinderance  ;D .
give me a while and i would tackle the TIG job myself (im an apprentice boiler maker ) I think i will go with the plan of shortening the mast 19mm . again thanks for the offer . above is a pic of the mast base and dodgy GLUE repair the PO tried .

[chris2998]

chris thanks for the offer , although i beleive the 7532 nautical miles may be a hinderance  ;D .
give me a while and i would tackle the TIG job myself (im an apprentice boiler maker ) I think i will go with the plan of shortening the mast 19mm . again thanks for the offer . above is a pic of the mast base and dodgy GLUE repair the PO tried .

wow yep I'd say you're a little ways away. I don't know how tig welding it would be. The metal has to be so dang clean for tig to weld good, we got some navy hovercraft coming in for repair and I dread welding on it after it's been at sea for 20 years

[matt195583]

OK so this weekend weather permitting i will be ever so busy working on GAINOO , trimming the mast making new rigging and modifying the outboard bracket , I will endeavor to take pics of the work i do and post them along with the trials and tribulations i encounter .

One question i have regarding a depth sounder is. Would i be better of to buy a GPS/chartplotter/depth sounder combo or would it be a better decision to buy separate gear , I believe it would be cheaper to buy the combo and i have a hand held GPS at my disposal as a back up . Also Is an in hull transducer worth the extra dollars in place of a transom mount transducer ?
At the moment there is no depth sounder on GAINOO and the local bay is quite shallow in places , so i think a sounder is essential and am hesitant to get on the water without one .

[AdriftAtSea]

Get the combo unit.   As for the in-hull transducer, most transducers can be mounted in-hull, even the "transom" mount ones, provided you have a solid fiberglass section of the hull for it to shoot through.  You can test for this by using a ziplock bag full of water and moving the transducer around the hull while it is sitting on the ziplock baggie, until you find a spot it works in.

The way I generally recommend mounting an in-hull transducer is to glass a section of 4" PVC tube into the hull where you want the transducer.  Then glue a PVC clean out adapter to it and then mount the transducer in a 4" cleanout.  Fill the pipe with mineral oil and put the transducer mounted in the clean out cap in and screw it down.  This has a couple major advantages over using the simpler stick the transducer in to a blob of putty/epoxy/sealant that most people use. First the transducer is removable in case you need to repair it.  Second, the PVC fixture protects the transducer much better than just sticking it to the hull and third, the PVC mounting system is re-usable.

[matt195583]

thankyou very much for the response , i will have a look locally this weekend and see what i can get a deal on , other wise i will buy online .