Reparing wood masts - side wall repair

[Paul Goodwin - US 46]

I had a request for info on how to repair a wood mast with a "kink".

It's been a while since I have done a wood mast repair, but back in the day we had developed a very simple fix.

The simple fix is the remove the part of the wall that has started to fail, and replace it with new wood.  You'll have to grind off the fiberglass first...

Referring to the sketch below, you can see the simple technique.  Here is how we perform the repair:
1) Determine the location and extent of the damaged area.  This is usually midway between the hound and base of the mast, and is in an area only a few inches long.
2) Plan on removing a section approximately 2 or 3 feet long.
3) Mark the middle of the section, the ends of the section, the 1/4 point, and the 3/4 point.
4) Take a wood saw, and clamp two pieces of wood on the blade so that 1/2" of blade is exposed.
5) Make a cut in the middle of the section 1/2" deep.  Make sure the cut is parallel to the mid plane of the mast.
6) Adjust the saw so 1/4" of blade is exposed.
7) Make two cuts 1/4" deep, at the 1/4 and 3/4 points.
8) Using a power plane, belt sander, spoke shave, whatever tool have to do the job, remove the mast side wall in an arc, using the saw cuts to guide the depth.
9) Make two pieces of wood to fill the cuts.  Use a high quality wood with nice grain and no flaws.  I recommend White Ash.  The wood pieces should be 1/2" thick, with enough width and length to fill the gap.
10) Test clamp the pieces of wood using a C-clamp in the middle of the section.  Tune up the cut if there are large gaps.
11) Glue the replacement wood in the mast using plenty of thickened epoxy.  Allow to harden.
12) Trim the new wood to match the shape of the mast.

 With practice (I've done this many times) this repair can be accomplished in two nights, with around two hours each session.