I have had a few sails in my recently purchased 2001 sun cat and noticed that the stays seemed pretty slack. I assumed it was just the rigging working it's way out and tightened up the turnbuckles a bit but when I went out today in moderate winds everything got loose pretty fast. After returning to the dock and doing a full inspection it appears that the plywood supporting the mast step had failed completely allowing the bottom of mast to slide down. The ply is wet and I assume absorbed water coming down the mast. Has anyone else experienced a similar problem or has suggestions for the repair? I'll obviously need to replace the ply but I'm a little surprised that it doesn't seem to supported by the hull on the bottom, just tabbed to the hull the anchor locker and forward cabin bulkhead.
Check out post 18 in this thread:
http://cpyoa.geekworkshosting.com/forum/index.php?topic=3653.0
A Horizon cat owner had the same thing but he was dismasted when the step collapsed.
Shawn
If you store a Sun Cat with the mast down, you have a mast-sized hole in the top of the boat. It needs to be plugged or covered somehow. It can allow in an impressive amount of water in a storm.
On my new suncat NUNKI, I noticed a small amount of water got into the mast step locker. I looked up through the mast sail track and saw a bit of daylight. Hutchins fill this slot at the deck line with sealant but apparently missed a spot. I added some sealant for a fix. An easy solution for sealing the open mast against water entry: I cut the bottom off of a Goldbond body powder container 3 inches from the bottom, cut a small tab on one end to clear the electric wires (leave the tab on). this slips nicely over the mast stub. I plan to cover the boat for the winter so this a temporary measure until fall maintenance is complete. Lets hope next year is a better season here in the NE. Steve