Drama at the Keel!
SARABANDE's mast is keel stepped, meaning that the mast runs through
the deck and cabin of the boat to sit and sits on the keel. We're really
glad she was designed this way.
The problem: the hole in the deck that the mast passes through
leaked badly for years, and so the foot
of the mast had been sitting in water that had dripped down it and
collected at the base. It was constantly wet for a long, long time.
The mast is
aluminum and the plate on which it sits was stainless steel.
Whenever two dissimilar metals touch each other in the
marine environment, you get to witness the phenomenon of electrolysis.
The metals will corrode each other and eventually fuse into one weakened, useless mess. Conditions
at the base of the mast were perfect for corrosion, and corrode it did.
When we had
the mast pulled last fall, it had corroded in the base so that
when the crane lifted it up, they seperated very, very grudgingly, and with an alarming noise.
This is the piece of metal that the mast sat in. The bolts that held it in place where corroded
and seized, so we had to just cut through them. Which, needless to say, was a bear.
The bottom inch
of the mast was so pitted and weak that it was a danger-- it
could collapse under its own weight and the strain of the sails.
This could cause the entire rig to come down, a total
catastrophe. But all rigging attached to the mast was
calibrated for it to be exactly the height that it was; no more, no
less.
What could be done to correct the issue?
Bill Lockwood had an innovative approach: pull the mast and cut
off the bottom inch and a half to remove all the worst areas of
corrosion. Remove the old mast step, fabricate an exact copy in his welding shop, mount the copy on an inch and a
half of solid fiberglass and restep the mast. This way, the
height stayed the same, but the problem was solved!
Here's how we
divided up the necessary work to make it happen. There
are several jobs, like rewiring the VHF antenna, that are so much
easier to do with the mast laying on the ground it would've been silly
not to do them, so they got added to the list.
US:
- cut through rusted old bolts and pry off old mast base, supply to Lockwood's
- epoxy together three 1/2" thick slabs of solid fiberglass the width and length of the mast base, to equal one slab 1.5" high
- epoxy fiberglass slab to the keel
- bolt on new mast base supplied by Lockwood's
- lay a thick layer of grease on mast base to help prevent future corrosion
- clean and grease all turnbuckles, replace three worst ones with better used ones from Lockwood's part shed
- rewire VHF antenna
- wash and wax the mast
- grind out all areas of corrosion on mast and spreaders, paint with epoxy to prevent further breakdown
- sand and paint epoxied parts of mast and spreaders to protect epoxy from UV damage
- fabricate and affix new spreader boots
- service all mast-mounted winches
- replace burnt-out anchor lightbulb
- inspect and test all wiring running through the mast, replace as necessary
Burning the midnight oil getting that mast base out of there!
LOCKWOOD'S:
- inspect mast, rigging, and fittings, advise on replacement and maintenance
- replace one staylock fitting with new
- fabricate new sand-blasted stainless steel mast base, using old one as a template
- cut 1.5 inches from base of mast, plus a notch for wires
- test and repair hydraulic backstay adjuster*
- unstep and step mast
- tune the rig
The brand new mast base
This is the bottom inch of our mast that Lockwood's cut off. Not pretty!
Boat owners: the earlier you fix leaks, the cheaper!
In terms of
prevention, we coated the newly-cut bottom edge of the mast with epoxy
and paint to keep the aluminum from touching the stainless base
directly, and then before the mast was stepped, the base was coated in
a thick layer of lithium grease where there would be contact with the
mast.
Although you can never really say on a boat "there's a project I'll
never have to do again," we feel that the rig will serve us well
throughout our cruise after these improvements. All the books
seem to agree that the mast needs to be pulled at least every 10 years
for inspection, and much more frequently if it's been through years of
constant, day-in, day-out use.
We're really glad we had this finished. It's a great feeling to
know that the mast is strong and able, our rigging is ready for
hard work, and we've learned what to watch out for in the future.
It was our most expensive lesson learned to date, but we didn't
have the tools, knowledge or wherewithall to do this one alone!
The Lockwood's guys stepping the mast in an Iwo Jima-like fashion.
The heat was over 100 degrees that day, and they worked hard and uncomplainingly.
Mr. Bill Lockwood turns crane control into an art form.
Almost in! Note the new paint, which has our sweat mixed into it.
Viola! Well, that was certainly a quick and simple project! Oh yes, and today is Opposite Day.
*The hydraulic backstay adjuster is one of those items on the boat that
we wouldn't have bought for ourselves, but came with the boat.
It is a fancy do-dad that's very nice to have for racing, but is
not necessary. However, the rear of the boat is wired in
such a way that when the adjuster turned out to need repairs, it was
actually simpler to just have it repaired than to try to lose it
altogether. Of course, now that we've paid big money to have it
brought back to peak condition, we're definitely going to use it all the time!
