Laser deck/mast socket repair - help, please!

[Thistle]

Can anyone help, please?

My Laser capsized - again! The cunningham released from the deck cleat allowing the mast to come almost out of the socket. As the boat was righted the mast damaged the top of the socket and tore a chunk of deck - two tears to one side of the socket about 4 and 8 incles long.

Does it look / sound repairable? Do I have to cut an access hatch to get to the underside of the deck or can I do all that's needed from outside?

Anyone with experience of this kind of repair? Or suggestions for professional repairers in the Edinburgh area?

All help greatefully received! Many thanks!

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Thistle, that looks like a pretty terminal bit of damage to me, or at the very least, a very major repair job..... a repairer may chose to cut out a whole mast step section from a laser damaged elsewhere, and graft the section in......

Have you spoken to your insurers?

 

[GrahamC]

Hi
Try Steve Bramall at 07752 809473, and there is a GRP production company at Ralphs Plastics ,Macmerry East Lothian who certainly can supply any material and may also assist with moulding repairs, at 01875 615247 .
John White at Seaspan Granton has also done this work
Hope this helps, that looks a real mess
It can be fixed
Regards
GrahamC

 

[snowleopard]

I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings but it looks a bit terminal to me.

I think the only way to bring it back to top line is a new deck moulding. The socket is such a highly stressed area that a bodge-up will be risky. A 'proper' repair will probably cost 4 figures /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

A lot depends on how old/tatty the boat is. With the cheapest new boat costing £3385 it may be worth a repair to a newish boat. For an older boat, consider a secondhand hull or a complete boat with tired rig. Perhaps a radial or 4.7 so you'll have a choice of rig when it's blowing a hooly.

If you do want to try a bodge, you'll have to cut one or two access holes in the foredeck which will always look messy thereafter but if you slap enough glass around the tube it'll probably hold.

 

[cameronke]

Dont neccesarily agree with the terminal diagnosis Snowleopard

Thistle says that the mast was almost dislocated when this happened suggesting that the bottom of the socket is still sound and the break caused by to large a moment about too small a cantilever.

This implies that what we see is virtualy the extent of the damage, ie to only the top fraction of the socket. If it were me, and I am a cheapskate and an uncureable optimist, I would make the access hatch, clean up the fracture and re-enforce/repair.

When re-assembled the bottom reaction point of the mast is as was but the top will be repaired/re-enforced.

Laser may do a repair section for this area I think.

Good luck Thistle
Cameron

 

[Vascojc]

I have a horrible feeling from a visit to the laser factory some time ago that the bottom of the retaining tube hangs from the deck,as it is part of the deck molding, there is just a wooden pad between the base of it and the hull, so any damage to the top will have affected the whole tube.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but this is device is designed and required to prevent this happening with the new control lines:
http://www.roostersailing.com/merchant2/...mp;Store_Code=1

I would suggest a worthwile £1.75 for those who don't have one on their laser!!

 

[robstracey]

Do you race it? as adding in access hatches, reinforcing, stc will all add weight. A simple, but possibly not the ideal solution would be to bulk up the area with marine ply on both sides of the deck bonded in with epoxy. I have seen this done on another boat and was told that it was better than new. As other people have said a proffesional repar would probably far outweigh the value of the boat.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Best bet is to find a written off laser, with perhaps bow or stern damage, cut out the mast step section in about half metre by half metre square and bond it in.... far easier, and far more likely to succeed....

Talk to an insurer... bet they can source one for you... help them cover some of their costs.... a bit of a win/win

If you are going down this route, suggest you start with Noble Marine on 01636 707606... still the nicest and most professional insurers I have ever dealt with....

 

[arTThur]

Hey Thistle,

As an ex-Laser racer, this a is a familiar sight to me (I have had it happen to one of my boats, but have seen at least half a dozen more with the same damage)

You could say it is the weakness of the laser, but they really do take a lot of pressure in this area. There are two ways to repair it, one by doing it correctly and the other is a 'bodge'.

If its insured, you could get Performance Sailcraft (Laser manufacturers in Oxford) to repair it by grafting on a complete new deck and mast socket - this is the ONLY way of repairing it properly that most insurance companies will trust. Its expensive, but will bring your boat back up to the original strength.
If you are not doing it through the insurance, then a GRP repairer will have a go at it probably by cutting an inspection hatch close to the damaged area for access to the inside and bonding new grp on the backside of the damage. A lot cheaper than a new deck, but almost certainly not as strong.

When mine went like this, I traded it into Performance Sailcraft against a new boat - not the cheapest option, but it worked well with the insurance company who contributed the 'repair' cost and I paid the rest.

Good luck!!!

 

[Ruffles]

I seem to remember that you used to be able to buy replacement socket mouldings for lasers. That would have been a long time ago mind. I assume you cut the damage out and grafted the new piece in.

Whatever you do it will either be heavier or weaker than it was. Probably both. So take the resale value into account when dealing with the insurance company.

Rob.

 

[fishermantwo]

quite a common fault in Lasers, I have repaired one similar and I've seen lots of others. The bottom of the mast socket is held in place with a bit of body filler, probably just a blob placed there as the deck is dropped into place. The people that built these things are not exactly boat builders thats why the quality is crap and they vary so much in "build quality". If your boat is un insured, fit two inspection ports just aft and either side of the socket, just check out other Lasers for the position. Repair the damage with epoxy and tape. I used a fibreglass filler under the socket to replace the "Bondo".

 

[William_H]

It is interesting to see the varying advice. It all depends on if you want a perfect boat as an outcome or if it is tired low value and you just want to have fun sailing. Of course if insurance will cover it then that is another story. Assuming you will accept a rough looking repair and the boat has limited value to sell then go for it.
The deck repair will never be the same again. So you may as well use the damaged area as the access point. You need to reinforce/ repair the tube and its attachment to the hull. Then fill the access hole with a piece of already laid up and hardened glass as a basis for building up layers of glass on the deck. If the hole is oval shaped then a larger patch can be inserted and rotated to clamp upwards agaist the under deck with smaller gaps to fill in. I have no doubt you can do a stronger repair than original however it will look rough on the deck and be extra weight. you may need to paint the whole deck. Polyester resin (the original) may be ok for the repair and is cheaper ( you can use a resin pigment to avert painting) but does not adhere as well as epoxy to old GRP. You will have to paint Epoxy.

I think you will find satisfaction in doing it yourself.
good luck olewill

 

[wiggy]

I have repaired almost identical damage on a laser whilst working in the med. Make a marine ply pad (at least 15mm) to vover entire area with hole for mast. Grind off gelcoat and a few mm of layup. You need to get damage level before this which may need grilling and pulling or levering. Couple of coats of woven mat glassed in then Ply on top and more layers of cloth and resin. Make sure rou chamfer edges of ply to allow easy layering of cloth. the one I did was strong and survived abuse from holiday clients. Have fun

 

[Slinky Spring]

ebay frequently have hulls for sale. Alternativley look around clubs in your area. They frequently have abandoned boats.
You could always insure the boat wait 6 months........Oh hang on that would be illegal. Ignore that comment!!!

 

[Thistle]

Many thanks for all the helpful suggestions ... and my apologies for the huge photo - I must learn how to shrink them before posting in future.

I'd delayed any further comment from me until I'd heard from Laser themselves but time marches on and near silence reigns (though I understand the Laser Nationals may have got in the way a little.) It does sound, however, as though the boat will have to go south for repair but they've given no indication of the extent of the repair proposed.

I'm glad I'm insured!

 

[MrZimm]

I wanted to reply to this old posting because I noticed some one commented on this saying it looks terminal. Well I have to say it isn’t. It sure wasn’t great when I was out racing and my boat blew apart on me, but it’s totally fixable. I was doing some research and came across this form I was going to try to glass it in my self but ended up not doing that because it would never look or be as strong as before. I’m no pro at fiber glassing, so my next thing was to look into these repair kits and I came across a few and after looking at them in the store I wasn’t impressed with how flimsy they are. I’m located in Toronto and when to fogh, they have a kit but its two parts and honestly didn’t look that strong but worst of all the instruction honestly where a photo copy with a hand drawn diagram and 3 paragraphs. I knew after reading the useless instruction that it was more then I should bite off. I was lucky I found fiberglass repair shop in Midland / Penetanguishene Ontario that could sell me a much better mast step kit. What I liked about this one is that it sits lower to the deck and has a surface that matches a laser original deck much better then the one I looked at online or at Fogh. I called Diversifiedfiberglass.ca and ended up just having him install the kit. He did a FANTASTIC job and the turn around time was about a week. I dropped it off one weekend and picked it up the next. So check out DiversifiedFiberglass.ca. Oh as for you/us racers, the added mast kit hardly change my weight or the mast rake of my laser ps he also did a pressure test of my laser and fixed two holes in the grab rail so that was an added plus.

C
Laser Mast Step Repair / Kit