knoisewater
Member I
Here is the picture album (14 total): http://imgur.com/a/Rcoi6
I took the mast off and have it in the yard getting new rigging while I work on this "little" project. I'm following this guide (http://home.comcast.net/~independence31/core/looksbad.html), but I used this forum and the documents to plan--and knew there would be a steel plate inside here. So, I cut it all out, and that's what I have! A flimsy mast step, and a completely corroded and flaky steel plate. Two of the screws holding the step down completely sheared in half when I unscrewed them (presumably from corrosion--you can see the leftovers in one of the pics). One of the other screws wasn't even hanging on to the step, which means there was a grand total of ONE screw holding the step down onto the plate (that's the one I drilled out). Awesome.
My plan is to go to a metal shop with both the step and the plate and ask them to make duplicates using new material, and to drill a few exploratory holes in the deck to check for core rot (if there is, then I will replace the core). After I polish it all up and make the step flush with the rest of the deck, I'm going to use some thick epoxy to glass the new steel plate in the same spot, then put the step back on top.
Should I still use steel for the plate? Or would aluminum work better?
The step screws seem to be threaded directly into the steel plate--that's something I need to specify with the machine shop, right? Or is that something I can do myself?
What material should the screws be?
Is there anything else I should do while the rig is down to reinforce this spot of the deck? Thanks.
I took the mast off and have it in the yard getting new rigging while I work on this "little" project. I'm following this guide (http://home.comcast.net/~independence31/core/looksbad.html), but I used this forum and the documents to plan--and knew there would be a steel plate inside here. So, I cut it all out, and that's what I have! A flimsy mast step, and a completely corroded and flaky steel plate. Two of the screws holding the step down completely sheared in half when I unscrewed them (presumably from corrosion--you can see the leftovers in one of the pics). One of the other screws wasn't even hanging on to the step, which means there was a grand total of ONE screw holding the step down onto the plate (that's the one I drilled out). Awesome.
My plan is to go to a metal shop with both the step and the plate and ask them to make duplicates using new material, and to drill a few exploratory holes in the deck to check for core rot (if there is, then I will replace the core). After I polish it all up and make the step flush with the rest of the deck, I'm going to use some thick epoxy to glass the new steel plate in the same spot, then put the step back on top.
Should I still use steel for the plate? Or would aluminum work better?
The step screws seem to be threaded directly into the steel plate--that's something I need to specify with the machine shop, right? Or is that something I can do myself?
What material should the screws be?
Is there anything else I should do while the rig is down to reinforce this spot of the deck? Thanks.