Chrysler Sailors Forum

Does anyone have pics of the mast plate on a C-26? My new ship has several poor repairs done by the PO. He used what appears to be automotive body filler as resin with matting to make a lot of repairs! A good example is the lazarette hatch
Another is the plate (or pedestal) the mast stands on. I can't see anything below the bottom of the mast because of the stuff he smeared all over it. The deck has a soft spot so I assume he was trying to fix a leak, but also the patch he put on has cracked wide in one spot running from the deck up toward the mast, so I am wondering if there is a structural issue, perhaps one common with these boats. A general idea of what the mast stands on and how it is supported would be very helpful in preperation for a repair.

Thanks

Indeed I do have said pics. You can find them here
on EE's home page.

EE's mast step went flying once when I got careless lowering the mast, and the mast foot and step got bound up. So I have seen whats under there. I have damage pics somewhere, soon as I find them I'll add to the thread.

Under the mast step plate, and gelcoat, EE had a thick layer of green resin, then a plate of wood.

The mast then is supported by a cheesy piece of wood which you'll find in the corner to the left of the head door. That terminates at the head sole.

At that point the wood stick should be resting on the concrete ballast pour under the sole, but in truth there probably is a space between the head sole and the ballast.

I haven't cut into the mast step area yet, but my guess is that there is plywood strip running down the center section of the cabin top with phenolic honeycomb on either side of the plywood. I have something like 15 to 20 through hole within 1 foot of the mast step and none were ever sealed properly. The mast is supported by a 2.25" sq. teak post running down to the fiberglass floor liner, below that is a block of wood resting on marine plywood. If you go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/93952888@N ... 885035070/
you'll see what I found.

Surveywaters

Post some photos to give us a better idea of just what you have. Here are a couple of mine that may help. The only support from beneath is a lacking compression post.







Terrence
Wilmington N.C.
Chrysler 26 1980
Pandora (for now)

And here's link to the damage pics, I thought I had shared these already, but apparently not. Warning - it wasn't pretty.

Wow, that's nasty looking! Some of that matting looks like it was not wetted properly during construction. Was there damge already or did you make a fatal error when stepping? I would like to know what the mistake was so I can learn from it rather than showing my pics
I wonder if that isn't why there is so much bondo goop on mine now, maybe the PO did something similar....Man this list keeps getting longer.

I'll be on the boat Sunday or Monday and will get some good pics of it. Until then I'll be scraping some metal off my bikes floorboards in NC/TN on HWY 129 aka 'The Dragon'

The mistake was using the trailer winch (meaning I was on the ground near the bow) instead of the recommended method of using the main sheet from up on the bow.

The mast got a bit off to the side during lowering, at almost all the way down, and I wasn't in position to notice it.

Details are in this thread -

http://www.chryslersailors.com/discussi ... =mast+step

Stepped the mast the usual way next time, and smooth as silk.

Here are the pics of my mast step. The crack is pretty clear there, I don't know if it's caused by the material shrinking (body filler I think) or if it's due to stress. The through deck for the mast light is obvious leaking, some people just shouldn't be allowed to own boats!

You can't do anything until you lower the mast. Wrap some duck tape around the whole thing, caulk the hole, fix your rudder and enjoy the rest of the summer.

If its a mound of bondo I would chip it away and fiber-glass it,

You could do it with the mast up and make it look good in a good afternoon.