Listers- Since the mast is down on my early (hull #7) 30-1, I removed the mast step to inspect beneath. The aluminum step is screwed onto a heavily sealed wood block ~12"x6"x2", which is in turn screwed onto two short timbers running athwartship which I'm sure are intended to take the load of the mast and transfer it to the hull. Those two timbers have been wet and appear to be a rot risk. The PO fitted a heavily sealed wood wedge down into that lowest part of the bilge between the floor timbers, to further support the block under the mast step.
My concern is that the wedge will transfer load from the mast onto the top of the keel instead of to the hull via the floor timbers, and thereby contribute to separation of the lead ballast part of the keel from the fiberglass keel stub i.e. the "C&C smile". Do you think this is a legitimate concern? Any thoughts on how to otherwise reinforce the floor timbers or distribute the mast load to the hull? Also that wedge was sitting in bilge water because the automatic bilge pump float switch is a bit aft and a bit higher. Both the automatic and manual bilge pump intake tubes are down there in that lowest part of the bilge, but the manual pump must be more effective at removing that water because of the float switch location. Thanks in advance for any comments. Cheers, Randy Stafford S/V Grenadine C&C 30-1 #7 Ken Caryl, CO
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