Mast Step, Deck Collar and P Bracket

May 2008

Finally some work is being done to prepare for the mast be stepped, with a new deck penetration with collar and strengthened mast foot created in the hull. The new keel stepped mast has been waiting patiently for months at the yacht club. The goose neck had to be relocated 200 mm lower as it was in the wrong place, and the wiring for the masthead light had to be replaced as the new wire turned out to be old stock with corrosion.

The mast foot had to be strengthened and increased in size and the collar through the deck needed reinforcing after enlargement.

With the help of a neighbour we had created a collar sleeve on a piece of mast off-cut that would provide a reasonably snug fit at the top, but allows plenty of space to pack some 16 mm polyester braid a couple of times around the mast to provide both spacing and padding in the penetration hole.

The boat builder glassed this collar into the deck after we had made the original sleeve. The old mast had a cross-section length of only about 100 mm but the new one is 135 mm, so the hole had to be increased considerably. You can see from the photograph that our Holland yacht has a mast location much further forward than the normal deck step position (that can be seen from the rectangular moulding in the deck). As such I don't know how much this will affect the sailing characteristics of the new rig with a mast that is now considerably lower and compared to normal Hollands, about 300 mm further forward. With the mast stepped 200 mm forward of the bulkhead and chainplates, this has allowed an 8º rake on the single spreader of the mast though, so it looks a much stronger, more modern set up.

The “P” bracket on the propeller shaft was loose and needed re-bedding in epoxy. Using a couple of syringes full of epoxy injected into a number of holes around the p bracket it is now nice and securely bedded again.

We have also had the toilet removed with the hull penetrations glassed over as we will be using a porta-potty instead and the less holes, the better.

This doesn't seem to be a lot of work but it has taken the boat builder months to do it - we just don't get why boat builders take so long to do anything! Their excuse is that they just can't get workers yet they charge enough to employ quality staff.