Stainless repairs on bow roller

[Reptile Smile]

I put the rig up on my latest knackered acquisition, and was somewhat alarmed to see that stainless 'strap' at the front has sheared.

This has meant that the upwards force from the forestay has pulled the whole fitting upwards - though I'm not sure it should be able to.

Though I of course wouldn't sail with it like this, it's probably ok in the short term - the inner forestay is taking a fair bit of the load. The problem is. I really don't know where to go with this. I suppose I'll need to look under the plate to see if what it's being held to is rotten (if it is, I dread to think what that would entail as a repair - certainly beyond my capabilities). Could the strap bit be re-welded to the plate (no other stem head fitting I've seen has this strap thing)? Or a bit of stainless fabricated to go over the top to hold it all together? One of the headaches is that this will entail taking off the entire pulpit as everything's welded together. Gah! Any thoughts?

 

[Malish]

Eeeek, that needs fixing, relieve the strain and get the horizontal plate down to the level it should be at, measure the angle to the strap and take some pictures, remove the pulpit and find a friendly stainless welder to re-attach the strap, possibly with a little beefing up.

 

[Daydream believer]

Have you got a friend with a small portable welder?
Remove the bottom strap. Weld it back to the plate with the plate up in the air a bit whilst still on the boat. Stick a carbon cloth, like the ones plumbers use when soldering pipes, between steel & boat if you have one but not necessary.
Release the fore stay. Get someone to sit on the pulpit whilst you re fix the strap. You may also strap it down to the pontoon to help pull it down.
You may burn a little bit of GRP but a bit of plastic padding will fix that & it will not detract from the rest of the boat.

 

[RichardS]

I'm probably being a wuss here, but I'd be worried about welding that strap back on just the front side with the fitting still in situ.

If I couldn't locate a new fitting I would feel the need to remove the whole thing and get it welded on a bench with some additional bracing alongside the original strap just for additional strength.

Richard

 

[Reptile Smile]

Well, I did wonder if the two reasons I might need to take the pulpit off - much as I don't want to - is to (a) inspect the area underneath the stem fitting and hope to hell that it isn't rotten wood, and (b) put sealant underneath it.

I'm awaiting a quote (I hope) from a local stainless welder who has portable kit, so I wonder if I can get him there at a mutually convenient time such that I can whip it off, get him to weld it at the quayside (or somewhere nearby - actually, thinking about it, my marina contract specifically forbids this...) whilst the forestay is temporarily off and the mast is held on the inner forestay, and then bosh everything back together as soon as poss...

 

[snowbird30ds]

I would imagine that any filling in the foredeck is rotten the way the screws have pulled out, that is probably the bigger repair job, the welding is a relatively minor job.
Has the strap been added to make up for a rotten deck? Even a spreader plate below with bolts through will not be right if the foredeck is compressing under load.
Sorry to be a harbinger of doom and all that.

 

[Tranona]

The mast will be quite safe with an inner forestay plus a halyard taken to the cleats.

That method of construction with a strap going down the stem was very common at the time and widely used on Hurley boats. However the failure that you have is also common and while welding the strap back on is necessary there are almost certainly nasties lurking underneath the bow roller itself. Water gets in and rots the wooden packing underneath, the fitting moves and the strap breaks. So you really need to deal with the underlying problem.

A call to Nick Vass, surveyor and expert on all things Hurley would also be a good idea.