[Public-List] cracked mast step

[Gordon Laco via Public-List]

Despair not…  this isn’t so serious.  Why it happened may be puzzling, but the cure is easy.

First, remember that the only significant force the mast step experiences is compression.   It just has to be there, and doesn’t have to do anything else.  

The cure is to remove it, and have a machine shop weld up the crack.

Why it cracked is more interesting.  Perhaps the four lags securing it were overtightened?  Perhaps the glass lay up the step rests on became convex?  This could happen by water getting into the laminations and freezing, causing expansion which may have raised the middle enough to crack the inflexible aluminium casting…

Could be.

I’d say looking into why it happened is the big issue…  the repair of the step itself is no big deal.

Cheers – 

Gord #426 Surprise

On 2017-04-04, 9:54 AM, "Public-List on behalf of via Public-List" <public-list-bounces at lists.alberg30.org on behalf of public-list at lists.alberg30.org> wrote:

     
    Hello my friends at the Alberg 30 Assoc.,
     
    I took Stargazer's winter cover off today, and while most was in order,  
    there was one very alarming discovery; the aluminum mast step casting had  
    cracked over the winter.
     
    There is one crack that goes directly across the fitting, just in front of  
    the raised area that goes up into the heel of the mast, and another that  
    goes from the port aft bolt slot to the outboard edge of the fitting.  Both 
    cracks are full thickness.
     
    I would like to think I would have noticed these cracks last fall, as  
    quickly as I noticed them today, so I think they occurred over the winter.  
    That's strange, since I unstepped the mast for the winter, so there was no force 
     on the fitting at all. The 'Bright Side' is that it happened now, and not 
    while  Stargazer was sailing.
     
    Stargazer, #255,  1967, is of the old non-hull liner, vertical toe  rail, 
    hull and deck configuration. The fitting is 50 years old. It should never  
    have been made of cast aluminum in the first place. It's amazing it lasted 
    this  long.
     
    Has this happened to anyone else's Alberg 30, and if so, how have they  
    replaced the fitting?
     
    When we bought Stargazer back in 1997, the mast step was fastened in the  
    middle of it's adjustment; the fitting bolts were basically in the middle of  
    their slots. I wanted to see if the bolts were free, in case I wanted to 
    adjust  the mast step position. The bolts were frozen then, and as Stargazer 
    balanced  nicely I never had to pursue it. I am sure the bolts have not 
    gotten any free-er  since. Are there any tricks you guys have come up with over 
    the years to free  the bolts up? Stainless steel in aluminum is never happy.
     
    I really thought I didn't have any major projects to do this spring.  :)
    thx,
    Lee
     
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