Dave, A fellow club member with a 33-2 had big problems with his mast step to the point that he couldn't keep his rig tight. He did allot of rebuilding inside the boat, including the cavity under the step that is filled with high density foam. After 30+ years it breaks down and you can't get proper torque on the leading keel bolt. If you have the "smile" on the leading portion of the keel where it beds up against the fiberglass hull, I would guess that you no longer have the support under the mast step that you need, and tightening the keel bolt just starts to compress the step adding to the problem. This has been a common issue on several C&C models. I have a 35-3 that needed repair for that reason. Not an easy fix, but it can be done. If you want to share you email address, I will send you pictures of the my 35-3 fix.
Doug ~~~~~~~~_/)~~~_/) ~~~~~~~~ -----Original Message----- From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com]On Behalf Of Dave Syer via CnC-List Sent: Thursday, October 01, 2015 12:01 PM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Cc: Dave Syer Subject: Stus-List C&C 33 mkii mast step revisited Hi All, So I checked the various posts and photos available, and chatted with one lister, but I have yet to see a really clear description of outright failure of the mast step area, other than repeat references to the 33ii collapsing mast step syndrome, and the assertion that the construction is inadequate. So, I took my (unfailed) boat apart, 'cuz, well, that's what I do... The mast sits in a rectangular cast-alloy base, that is longer and wider than the mast itself. This allows mostly for shimming fore and aft to adjust mast rake. The alloy base sits on the 'glass liner, which sits on a piece of 3/4"plywood, which sits on a pile of putty,(bog) which sits on a built up section of glass where one of the keel bolts penetrates and on a fabricated fiberglass cross-member spans the bilge, athwartships. This cross-member (aka "floor timber") is a hollow fiberglass beam which is semi-elliptical in section. (like an inverted trough.) It is part of the "spider" or whatever they called it, which stiffens the hull. The mast is still stepped, so I can't yet go further, but for now I can see three areas of potential failure: 1: The wood can deteriorate allowing the mast to settle by its thickness, 2: the putty could fracture crumble, move, fail, - ditto, 3: worst of all, the cross-member could conceivably collapse, allowing the mast to settle by some portion of its height. This would not be good.... If my mast step has settled, it's not by much. To me, the wood and putty part is kind of cheesy, and I'll re-do that anyway because it bugs me and I think wood in a wet place is bad news. The crossmember looks really strong, and while I have this apart I could get clever and reinforce it, but it may be totally unnecessary. Has anyone actually observed the mode of this particular failure? Can anyone confirm that this crossmember has been a failure point in normal use and has contributed to this purported flaw in the boat? Thanks! Dave BTW, I will document and post this work for the benefit of future generations.
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