Anyone used the mast step kit?

[powergroove]

I have the pieces, but cant find instructions or any info on the steps to put the mast step repair kit in. No search Ive done on this site has turned up the "kit" repair in any detail. Any help and pics will be greatly appreciated,

david

[powergroove]

Really? no one has used it or cares to share? well heres my saga.
Let me say with about 75% of my repair complete, I wouldnt buy a kit if I had to do it again. Fortunately I didnt buy the kit, so it makes it almost worthwhile.
What I did...with no instructions and no help from this site...

First I Cut out way too much material, trying to figure the flange thingy into accountfor the size of the hole(which Im not going to use) I wish I had the luxury of the cut out template, but I didnt, so my hole was a little big. But the former repair was big, and uuggleee. So the hole had to be pretty big anyway.

Following some of the pix and instructions from someone who didnt use the kit, I used 2 pieces of 1/2" 2'x4' marine ply, I first built a mast base with 4 pieces stacked, screwed and glued with 3 inch hole. I mixed up resin to peanut butter consistency and set the mast base in it. Then I glassed in the base (all after removing the old plate and cleaning the bottom really good).
Now I have glassed in 2 pieces of ply to fill the cutout hole. I did it in 2 halves to make it easier to clamp, and manage in general. Now I will top it with 1 more piece to fit the entire cutout to bring it back to the level of the foam core. Then I will glue in the kit plate and the mast tube in place.

Im worried about the strength of the kit top and the glueing process, but Im surely not worried about the strength of the fix itself. It will be way stronger than the original, but not quite as pretty.


Any help in the last steps would be helpful!(glueing the kit into place)

[Wavedancer]

Google 'Laser mast step repair kit'

You will find out that Laser Performance sells the kit and, hopefully, will provide you with the instructions.

An old thread on this forum will also show up prominently.

[powergroove]

google didnt give me instructions, and the mast step thread here is about fixing or stiffening a broken plate, not using the kit. I just couldnt find anything on the kit anywhere.

So here are the before(old, bad repair job) and the new baseplate glassed in, and the new substructure. I will add another layer to fill the gap, drill the hole to recieve the tube thru the structure, then attach tube/top piece to the ply. It will all be resined in and hopefully sound.

[LooserLu]

Hi,
I have two hints (Not much but better than nothing):
1.:
there has been a webside called "Restoration of Laser #811". The original webside is down. Go to the "Waybackmachine" -> www.archive.org. and copy direct aft "http://" this (now dead) webside link into the "URL" window above of the "Take Me Back"-button: members.acadia.net/catamount/Laser/
Choose any date there.

2.:
http://www.vancouver-boat-repair.com...at_repair.html

It's the homepage of a company called "P.H. Fiberglass Fabrication", specialized to fiberglass works, at the great mega phantastic city of Winterolymic/Paralymipc Games: Vancouver. This is many 10.000 km away from me and at Europe the maststep repair kit is not available (transport- and import costs into the EU of such a kit is more expensive than to buy an old hull with a not defect maststep). Nonetheless: Thanks Vancouver guys, your homepage is very useful to explain to newbies here, why it is better to let fiberglass experts do such a repair job.

Ciao
LooserLu

[powergroove]

LooserLu, thanks so much! Even though my repair is complete now, and I think its more substantial than the kit and flange in particular, the info was indeed helpful. I didnt know www.archive.com and the waybackmachine existed. I was able to retrieve some of my kids pix from my old website that I thought were lost forever.

Thanks!

btw, a little more work on hull number PFS 229740175

BTW #2 Is there anyway to track old boats from hull numbers? I know this hull was donated to Cape Fear Yacht Club in N Carolina, but wondered where it all began so to speak.

[Arnulfo]

Hi, well my recommendation try to find a page something with key word repair a boad and them follow the steps..