Falcon Maintenance and Repair

Falcon Mast Support Plate Bowed

I had cause to closely inspect the base of the internal mast support strut where it is bedded on to a steel plate that rests on formers above the keel. Put simply, the plate had bowed by about 2.5cm and many many potentially serious ramifications could follow, quite apart from slack rigging! The cure was to fabricate and fit a thicker steel plate in its place.

Now I should say that my boat has been through all kinds of weather and crossed the Atlantic a couple of times and has many miles under her keel. I have recently read a description of a boat on the Wetserly forum “the boat had not been used aggressively”; well, neither has mine, but on the other hand it has been in highly aggressive conditions, as I am a sailor! Anyway, it is a very simple mark one eyeball check!