So my son and I were going to take my recently purchased Pirateer out for it's (and our) first sail today. Unfortunately, when I was attempting to raise the mast,
the step pulled loose from the boat! No mast, no sailing!
Does anyone have any suggestions for repairing this? I am new to sailboats in general but I am thinking there is supposed to be some wood support right under the mast step? How would I replace that? I welcome any words of wisdom. I would really like to try my hand at sailing this boat soon but I will obviously have to fix this problem first.
Does anyone know if it would be safe to make a cutout in the front bulkhead right under where the mast step mounts like I have marked with red circles in this picture?
I'm just not sure what is behind it. Would it be better to cut out the top and and patch it back in after I replace whatever the screws for the mast step are supposed to screw into (wood?)? Not sure what to do here.
What did you do? I was rigging my "new" Pirateer and the screws were very loose, took them out and there is no way I would trust them. thinking of filling original holes and re installing or stepping the mast plate back a little and re-drilling.
Well, the answer to the question I asked is, YES you can make holes where I had marked in the picture. I did that to see what was under the deck where the step is attached. I ended up cutting a chunk of the deck underneath the step out and used a router to carve out enough room for a steel plate I made with threaded holes for the mast step to bolt to. I then embedded the steel plate in the space that I had made with the router using a fiberglass repair kit. at the same time I was doing that, I patched the piece of the deck that I cut out back into place. The step now holds in place very solid.
No mast, no sailing! 
