Damaged Mast Foot 26S

[Corsair II]

In stepping the mast on my 1993 Mac 26S, I noticed that the mast foot had been bent at the front of it. Once I got it raised and in place with the mast raising system, I attaced the gin pole to the mast instead of laying it flat on the deck. From marks on the mast, it appeared that the previous owner stowed it likewise. After a few days, some friends helped lower the mast (instead of lowering it with the mast raising system), and by doing so, we forgot to detach the gin pole which then pinched the mast foot, bending it even more. In trying to straighthen it out, the aluminum split about half an inch at the forward base of the mast. Is there anything that can be done to repair or strengthen the mast foot? I've raised it again and it appears to be doing fine, but the boat is on the trailer in the backyard with very little load on it. Any ideas?

[Catigale]

A good shop should be able to weld that for you. Perhaps drill the crack end with a 'crack stopper hole' first.

[Doug91mac26s]

Did it look like this?



Here's what I did. My 91' had a flat cap at the top of the mast. I straightened the bend and put the flat cap at the foot of the mast, giving it more strength, keeping it from bending again. Then I picked up a better cap for the top of the mast from Minnie's Surplus.






I posted this in the mods 26S section, under the heading "Mast cap & base".

[Corsair II]

That's exactly what it looked like. Very helpful - is this an immediate / emergency fix or can it wait to become a winter project?

[Doug91mac26s]

Definitely not an emergency. That small amount of bend in the foot, won't cause any trouble, even if you tore the aluminum a little trying to straighten it out.

Does yours have a flat cap at the top? If so move it to the bottom, then you can contact Minnie's, http://www.minneysyachtsurplus.com/ You can show them a picture of the one I used, I think they will be able to identify the one I used, and they can ship it to you. Last time I was there a couple months ago they still had quite a few. I think the price is $17. I like it because it has a couple more attachment points, fits perfectly, and I think it looks better!