A Photo & Discussion Forum for Wharram Design Enthusiasts

mast repair

I single handedly took down the mast yesterday.It was a bit tricky but luckily there are some trees which assisted in the mast lowering.

When i raised the mast a few years ago I must have damaged the foot of the mast.This allowed water ingress and to swell the timber at the foot,splitting the glass.With this in mind I will glue a rubber strip to the bottom of the mast after replacing the damaged timber.I am considering cutting 5mm off the base of the mast and gluing on a hardwood ''shoe'' to protect the softwood at the base of the mast.

Other than that the mast and synthetic rigging has weathered well.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Thomas Nielsen on August 11, 2015 at 5:17pm

I have seen a similar issue at the mast base. Instead of gluing on a rubber patch how about coating the bottom in 3M 5200. You can trowel on a thin coat and drive it into the wood then build up a layer as a pad.

Permalink Reply by paul anderson on August 12, 2015 at 3:21am

Thomas this is a great idea mate. Turns out the pine had wicked water higher up the mast than I thought.I chiseled out the damp pine and replaced it with a bit of hardwood.

Permalink Reply by paul anderson on August 14, 2015 at 3:10am

So I decided to just glass the bottom of the mast with heavy cloth and loads of epxoy round the foot. I will take extra care when raising it next time.