Broken Mast Step

Posted by james gilchrist on
URL: http://uk-hbbr-forum.61.s1.nabble.com/Broken-Mast-Step-tp3484417.html

Hi All,

Could I beg some advice.  As most of you know I am building a coot.  However, at the start of the build I traded my Enterprise for an Oughtred Shearwater.  It has the balanced lug rather than the gunter sloop so has an unstayed mast.

The mast step has caused me some problems.  The mast step is a block 3 inches wide by 5 .5 inches long.

It is not glued in position but is screwed into the hog.  It is fixed by two bronze screws.  They are 2.5 inches long and I would guess gauge 10 screws i.e. just under 5mm diameter.

Under very moderate winds I have managed to bend the screws and rip them out of the hog.  I swore gently and very grateful I had just fitted oarlocks and oars.  I can't imagine how long it would of taken to get home the 8 miles up Coniston in the dark with a single paddle.

Looking at the hog and keel I can establish they have a combined depth of 1" 5/8ths.  The current screws enter to a depth of 1 inch.

So how to fix the mast step in a stronger way.  My thoughts thus far are as follows.

If I go to three inch long screws that leaves only an 8th of an inch of wood under the screw which worries me a bit, I suppose I could also countersing further into the mast step to enter the hog and keel a bit further but how much further?.  I could definately go up in terms of gauge of screw to say a gauge 16 which is 7mm diameter.  

Any advice greatefully recieved.

Yours

James