| Author | Message | ||
     Mike Bergmann Unregistered guest Rating: |
Eric, you are right. I did go down from the top, and I am glad I did. I am very experienced at fiberglass and carbon fiber work, and I always hate to work overhead. It is much messier, the new work wants to fall off, you end up getting yourself dirtier, etc. I think the aluminum plate is a little closer to the top, but distance is not really important. If the aluminum plate itself is very badly corroded, I would agree with the recommendation to replace it with a prefab fiberglass plate. One thing to watch out for, though: one port bolt is threaded into the aluminum plate, and you will need to install something to take the threads (maybe West System hardware bonding method?) However, aluminum does not corrode heavily like mild steel, and it does not swell up when it corrodes. I had a little surface pitting on the plate which I took off with a power wire brush, and left the plate in place. All my damage was in the area where the gasket seats, so I could not make a mold. I cut a wood block to exactly match the mast tube, and used it with the original gasket as a rough template. I then laid up the new fiberglass until the template and gasket were a little too tight, and ground out the excess until the fit was OK. |
