Loosening Stay Tension . . . Why ?

[Stillraining]

Originally Posted by tanksalot

The most important question, I guess, is whether that deteriorated plywood is just an indicator of the problem or the problem itself. If the plywood is primarily decorative and the mast support comes exclusively from the area directly under the mast, then that's where I should look. The biggest problem with that approach is that the base under the mast at the floor area is a fiberglass-molded "pocket". Opening up that area and fixing the issue becomes quite complicated.

Anyone have this experience with an Ericson?

Thanks again for all the input.
Tanksalot

No but my Irwin has the same setup not a pocket but a bridge that the mast steps on..It was deteriorating internally as the plywood core got saturated...we completely cut it all out and glassed it up solid...its 3" thick solid glass now...and in addition Im installing a 3/8" SS plate on top of that...Which is part of the deck tie rod system I referred to earlier, which in my case will incorperate a new mast ring coller. The two SS Rods fore and aft the mast will atach the system togather...I installed plenty of block atachment points to the coller as well so will have many choices as to how to run lines back to the cockpit or up the mast.

In my case you could actually see a 1/8" depression in the bridge and it would pool water there that entered the mast.

I understand you not wanting to drop the stick to repair this but you could have several issues all contributing to the problem like i did...Not saying you cant get by doing it your way but more then likely the problem will return if you don't address every issue.