8-6-21 – While sailing downwind in about 6-8 knots of wind the mast partner parted ways with the boat and mast and sails tumbled over the side. Understandably, I was too busy to take any photos until I got back to the dock.
The mast partner completely delaminated and ripped out of the boat. Once I got the rig under control and got the spars and sail back into the boat, I had over a mile to row home. Fortunately, it was downwind. It is very difficult to row with a pile of debris obstructing the oars, but I eventually made it home. The oars are definitely too long.
Here is the result.
8/7/21 – I will have to wait till high tide today to haul the boat and do a close inspection of the damage. I suspect that the culprit is not enough epoxy and not enough screws holding the mast partner to the seat frame. When I repair it I will use a lot of thickened epoxy and much bigger bronze screws. I will also reinforce both ends of the mast partner with fiberglass tabbed to the seat partitions as well as the mahogany seat supports. Fortunately, it is all fixable. Now that I know how much pressure the mast partner is under, I can make sure to sufficiently reinforce the area with more screws and fiberglass.
1:00 pm – It’s been raining all morning and the boat was filling with water. I managed to bail it out and drag it up the hill and into the garage with dollies. On closer inspection, it looks like the initiating event was the mast step dislodging. It was screwed into the keel and it looks like I neglected to epoxy it and the screws did not extend as far into the keel as I thought. Once the mast step separated, there was no hope for the mast partner. There was just too much leverage with the wind in the sails.
The exposed wood got thoroughly soaked before I could get the boat into the garage, so it will have to dry out before I can do any repairs.
NOTE: 9-7-21 – This was entirely my fault, not a design issue. When I first saw that the mast step had ripped out, I didn’t realize that I forgot to epoxy it in place. I finished the mast step early on in the build and screwed it in place while I finished the rest of the boat. I didn’t want to epoxy it until I could take the boat outside and fit the mast to see if it was in the correct position and the mast fit the hole in the step. By the time I got the boat outside, I was just anxious to get it in the water and try it out. I thought the screws would hold for a couple of test sails. Wrong. What I didn’t realize was that although I used really long screws, the step was pretty thick and the screws ended up only being about ½” into the keel. The moral of this story is: Follow the design instructions. The good news is that the boat is now good as new and sails really well.