Stephen,
I had the same thing on my Mk1, brown water squishing out when I tensioned the rig in the spring. There is a plywood rectangle glassed into the deck that supports the mast step and transfers the load from the mast step casting through the deck, to the bulkhead cross member in the cabin. The plywood is rotting and needs to be replaced. I sounded out the deck around the step area to see if there was any delamination (there was), then cut off the top layer of the deck to the edge of the delamination and peeled it off. If your very lucky it will come off in one piece or a few large pieces. Once this is done you will see the plywood support and any rotten core in the area and you can remove all of the nastyness. You can replace the plywood piece (encapsulate it in epoxy first) or just fill it all in with some fibreglass mat so it is solid. If you were lucky you can glass the outer deck layer back on or just glass over the entire cut area until it is even with the existing deck. Drill the step mounting holes from the inside to get the proper location then do the oversize drill to the bottom layer of the deck, epoxy fill, re-drill routine to ensure it doesn’t rot again. Make sure you bevel the top of the holes to get a better seal with whatever you use to seal the holes before putting on the step casting. Some fairing and paint and it’s as good as new. It took me 3 or 4 days (3 or 4 hrs/day) to do the repair with simple tools, a dremel tool with cut-off wheels, oscillating multi tool saw, putty knife, chisel, hammer, drill and bits. You’ll also need epoxy, some sort of thickener (I used colloidal silica), fibreglass mat (woven, not the chopped stuff), mixing containers, stirring sticks and the normal ppe. It is a DIY job and the only precision areas are getting the deck thickness the same as it was with a flat area to mount the step and making sure the holes to bolt down the step are re-drilled in the original place. Rick Taillieu Boatless Leamington, Ontario From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of Stephen Kidd via CnC-List Sent: June-14-18 10:16 To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Cc: Stephen Kidd Subject: Stus-List C&C 25 II - mast step concerns Hi all, First, having found the archives for this list incredibly helpful, I wanted to pose a question about the mast step on my C&C 25 II (bought about a year ago somewhat impulsively, I confess). Occasionally, after prolonged rains, I'll find some water residue in the cabin under the mast step. It's dark brown, which has me concerned, and is dripping from one of the bolt holes. Not much, just some drops. I put some butyl around the step, which has seemed to solve the leak. The deck feels solid, but I'm wondering if this warrants a mast step rebuild. A failing mast step sounds scary. Any things I should check to diagnose? Any ideas on what a boatyard might charge to rebuild the mast step (rate is about $100 an hour)? <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient> Virus-free. <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient> www.avg.com
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