For those of you who are non-sailors, our mast penetrates the deck and is ‘stepped’ on the keel. Where the mast penetrates the deck, there is a metal collar to reinforce the area and stabilize the deck.
Our old mast collar was completely corroded. The aluminum actually discintigrated when I was trying to remove it.
We had a new collar fabricated by Benchmark Welding. It was both a work of art and very sturdy.
Sarah and I installed it this weekend. It began by filling the existing holes as we changed the pattern to bolt into clean fiberglass. I haven’t played with fiberglass since college and had quite a bit of fun.
We let this cure over night.
The next morning, sanded and cleaned the area with acetone. We marked the new hole pattern and began drilling. The first hole was stressful. It’s amazing how fast a sharp drillbit will go through 3/4″ fiberglass.
I applied a good base of 3M 4000UV as bedding material and bolted it all together. All in all, easier than I though to install.
Nice work guys! Love seeing the progress.