As it seems to happen often at these latitudes, early April puts on a show of summer weather making you think: "Oh, no! Sailing season is here and I still have a mile-long list of maintenance jobs to do!"
Of course, once you finish these jobs the weather turns nasty, but that is another story.
Top of the list of the maintenance this winter was the mast step.
When we got a new mast for Mekicevica, finding exactly where to fix the mast step was a bit of guess-work. As it turns out, my guess was wrong. I put the mast too far forward (by a few cm), and not in line with the supporting bracket. Because of the sailing we do, often involving fresh winds, the rig needs to be tight, and this caused compression on the deck.
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| The effects of mast compression became worrying. |
It also turns-out that the Mantas only have a wooden core in one place: under the mast step. Possibly because wood is a great material to take compression, unless when t goes completely rotten, as was the case with Mekicevica. First step: get the whole thing out!
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| Rotten wood core removed. |
After hours of sanding and cleaning, a new wood core went in and was set in place by copious amounts of epoxy with high density filler.
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| Core replaced and epoxied in. |
After days of sanding, priming and painting, the mast step was re-installed.
As a bonus, the original Manta mast step was reused as fixing points at the mast base.
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| The finished product: not only stronger but also much tidier. |
