Jim McEwen,
Yes, I ended up cutting off everything about 3/8" above the nut.
Convinced myself that a sawsall was the best tool for that, so I bought
myself one. Best thing I ever did! I got to cut all but 1 or 2 bolts
off with it, too cramped for the aft one, but I now use it for almost
all non critical cuts I have to make, including trimming my palm tree
branches down here.
The mast step was made from two pieces of treated and double glassed
2x4s cut to fit very snugly in the void in the shape of a "V". The
cable and a drain hose from the head sole, went in to the "V" in the
wood supports, and then into the bilge. When I removed all of the bad
wood I found a "opening" to the area under the head sole and into the
fwd bench seat storage area. I plugged them with wetted glass strips as
part of the step reinforcement and then inserted the wood pieces. I had
a whole lot of glass cut into 2 x 6" wetted strips and used them to pack
any and all voids anywhere in the step, including around the cable and
hose. I had to put a plastic sheet across the area to keep the epoxy
from leaking out. Stuff is fantastically runny for something so thick.
It was important that the wood and glass carry the load so the vertical
fit was tight. In the process of replacing the lightening cable from
the mast to the keel bolt I used a 2 ton hydraulic jack and 2x4s to
raise the overhead just enough so I could get the wood mast support out
and get to the cable. You could use that trick to take the load off the
sunken head sole and get it level. I found a '0' or '00' battery cable
from a local auto goods store that worked just great as a replacement
lightening cable and the cost was very reasonable.
Used that same trick to raise my son's porch roof when we replaced
the decking. A 2x6 tee'd to a 2x4 with screws and we got the roof up
off the bent porch deck boards. Neat trick, but I held the "T" brace
the entire time we were working on it. (Old guys can set the rules if
you know what you are doing).
Joe
