[alberg30] Support Beam delamination - A different explanation

[Dan Sternglass]

From: Dan Sternglass <dans at stmktg.com>

George Dinwiddie wrote:
> 
> From: George Dinwiddie <gdinwiddie at min.net>
> 
> I don't think the mast-step was under-designed.  The problem is that
> the beam delaminates.  It's a deterioration problem.  Adhesives have
> improved a lot since the 60's.  I think it's amazing that many of these
> beams are still working after 30 years.

When we made the stainless steel doubler for our 1966 A-30 about 10
years ago, I noticed that the bolts that hold the mast step to the beam,
through the deck, had their their nuts in a countersink HALFWAY through
the thickness of the beam. My theory has been that countersinking the
nuts this deeply greatly weakened the beam, at the "crown", the location
where it needed the greatest strength. Maybe that was a fabrication
error unique to my particular boat, but I doubt it.

I wonder if people who have experienced this delamination have noted
this, vs. those who have not expereienced the delamination.

--Dan Sternglass
"Watcher of the Skies" #201, 1966, Cayuga Lake, Ithaca, NY

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