Never thought I would see the day!!! While taking of the mast head of my Inter/NACRA 20 last night I was confronted with a wooden mast plug that was; are you ready for this, eaten away by termites. Yes, I kid you not, I have been around these little buggers long enough to know what their destruction looks like, and I can see this how this happened.
But this kind of goes along with the mouse that was living in my front cross beam.
Needless to say, I am going to build a new one as was wondering if anyone else has done this. I am thinking of 3/4" marine plywood with a few coats of West Systems, or a piece on honeycomb Nomex panel with a few coats as well.
Any other suggestions?
But this kind of goes along with the mouse that was living in my front cross beam.
Needless to say, I am going to build a new one as was wondering if anyone else has done this. I am thinking of 3/4" marine plywood with a few coats of West Systems, or a piece on honeycomb Nomex panel with a few coats as well.
Any other suggestions?
A block of Styrofoam cut to fit and glued in place will work just fine (this is what my a-cat mast has in it). A couple of layers of blue/pink insulation foam laminated and cut to fit with some 3M 4800 will also work just fine. I've also seen a flip flop cut to fit.
...I assume you are talking about a plug at the top of the mast?
...I assume you are talking about a plug at the top of the mast?
Yes the top.
I would definitely go for the lightest solution! Especially at the mast tip. No point sealing the mast if you are going to plug it with plywood. You might as well pour concrete!
Go with the styrofoam. Make it a little big then squeeze it in. Cover the whole thing with some general purpose silicon sealant and you're good to go. If the whole job take more than 5 minutes and $5 you've done something wrong and you've just saved a whole lot of weight aloft.
Go to the home supply stores and get some of the pink structural foam. Its light and can be easily cut with a hot knife to the proper shape.
Just slap the foam against the end of the mast to get a nice imprint/outline to cut to.
Push in about 3
foam plug buttered with silicone. Plug should be .5
below top with remaining space above filled with silicone. Plug forms backing while silicone sets and gives it support if pushed. Make sure to use a UV resistant silicone designed to adhere to metal.
Or in this case carbon fiber...
Termites in a Nacra-20 mast - great, now I have something else I feel like I need to check!
I can't believe that Omohundro would put wood in a mast!
Have you owned it from new or is there a chance that someone else has been tinkering?
Depending on the vintage of the N20 - it might not have an Omo mast.
IIRC there were three separate mast suppliers for the class over the life of the boat.
Maybe it was two - and one just was renamed.
Have you owned it from new or is there a chance that someone else has been tinkering?
No, just bought the boat from a guy in Texas - I am in CA. I don't know what was original with this, that is why I asked. I can see using a piece of wood if it was covert with epoxy or something but this was not the case.
IIRC there were three separate mast suppliers for the class over the life of the boat.
Maybe it was two - and one just was renamed.
It may be an OMO mast, I pealed the white stickers with a big O off last night.
Had a mouse too. There was a bunch of bungee cord in the main beam that the mouse made a home in. While I was working on the boat the cat had managed to grab some of the bungee out and was going nuts over it. I unscrewed the end cap, pulled the bungee out and this mouse jumps out.
Needles to say he lasted all but about 2 second before the cat was on like white on rice.
If you use foam for the plug (which I hope you do) be sure to get closed cell foam, otherwise it will turn into a big sponge and add weight where you want it the least.
Reminds me of the mouse family that got into my sailbox while parked at a generous friends lot near a bayou that emptied into Galveston Bay. I wouldn't mind the mice, except they ate huge holes in one of my mainsails.
Good job rescuing this boat from M.R.
If you need crew for the GT300, let me know, I flew in for the last one form WI to TX. Oohh, it was good to be back in TX. Speaking of TX....
Closed Cell Foam?????
A rocket surgeon I am not, but isn't this the stuff they use for exercise mats and stuff like that? Seems this would be the stuff not to use. Surfboard makers are using open cell!
What am I missing here?
+1 on the closed cell
pfd's, fenders, flip flops, etc