There has been a lot of discussion about the topic of deteriorating overhead compression support on H34s. I went through the entire experience of discovery, limited discussions with Hunter (not very fruitful) and repair before I was aware of the HOW site and the fact that others were experiencing the same problem. The first indication I had that there was a problem was when I noticed that the aft side of the fiberglass beam above the compression post was starting to bulge. Eventually it developed cracks in the gel coat. Another indication of a problem was that the rigging was constantly loose.

After receiving a quote from the yard for $5000.00, my wife and I decided to start the repair ourselves. We would proceed only as far as we were comfortable and then have the yard finish in an effort to save some money.

The first step was to have the yard remove the mast and store it for us while we attempted to repair the support. Removal was straightforward. All of the wiring came up through the deck to connectors inside the bottom of the mast. The connectors showed their age as they were quite corroded. Additionally, the copper wiring was corroded, requiring complete replacement. Since the mast did show signs of corrosion around all the stainless steel fasteners, we decided to have it re-painted since it was off the boat. More about that later.

After having the mast pulled, it was back to the dock for the inside work. The steps we took were as
follows:

Remove the door to the head and the doorjamb. The screws are covered with plugs that extract easily. That exposes the cut out in the compression post where the wires are run for lights and electrical bonding from the mast step to the keel. Next, remove the cabinets behind the head. You can actually take it out in two pieces, the upper sliding doors and top shelf then the lower storage area. Most of the screws are on the inside of the cabinets. A couple come in from the opposite side inside the sliding locker in the main salon or from inside the locker in the v-berth. Next, disassemble the settee that covers the holding tank. All you need to remove is the top and the one side attached to the bulkhead.

Remove the screws around the perimeter of the bulkhead inside the head area and then cut the fiberglass tabbing where the bulkhead is glued to the hull. It is tabbed in two places as I recall. I just used a hacksaw blade for this. Score the silicone sealer around the bulkhead with a knife. At this point the bulkhead will come out and with some maneuvering, it can be stored in the aft cabin.

View 1 of compression damage (forward side)

View 2 of compression damage (forward side)

Remove the compression post. Since my overhead had settled around it, I needed to get a piece of 2 x4 and a jack to raise the overhead just slightly (1/8) and the post fell away.

In order to expose the interior of the beam; make a cut approximately 18 long and not quite the full width. Dont cut too deep, as there is electrical wiring on the aft side of the beam for 110V and the light in the head.

This exposed the piece of 4 x 4 Douglas Fir that was supporting the mast. As you can see, it is deformed .12 V Of interest is the big notch cut out of the piece of wood, primarily because the mast and the compression post are not directly in-line. They are offset. To accommodate the passage of the mast wiring down through this area, the Hunter craftsman had to cut a chunk out of the wood. The total weight of the mast in compression was on an area of less than a 2 x 4 on its side. The groove cut along the wood is to allow passage of the VHF antenna lead. It was completely smashed and the center conductor was broken. No wonder no one answered my radio calls! The VHF lead and a pull string were threaded through a short piece of tubing that is the same as the water plumbing. There was no real evidence of rotting in the wooden piece, just deformation due to the high loading on a relatively small cross sectional area. Wood doesnt offer as much compressive strength transversely to the grain direction. Any water leakage would certainly compound the problem.

Exposed wooden beam (compressed)

Cross section of construction-note offset of post

After removing the wood I chose to use a hole saw and drill up to the aluminum plate under the deck to be sure nothing was rotten. As it turns out, there was no wood, just some sort of synthetic core material. This step is unnecessary. Just for reference, the aluminum plate glassed into the deck is * thick.

Wooden beam has been removed

My fix to the problem was to assemble an aluminum structure to couple the downward force of the mast directly to the compression post. I bought the aluminum pieces at a local recycled materials supply. They sell the aluminum by the pound in various shapes and sizes. Total weight - 26 pounds for $59.00. Not too bad at all! My friend has a mill, so we drilled the holes in the various pieces and screwed it together. I coated the underneath of the deck with a good layer of epoxy fairing compound and pushed the whole assembly up inside the opening. You can see it being supported until the epoxy cured so it wouldnt fall on our heads later when we closed up the opening.

Holding the repair in place until the epoxy cures

We epoxied some hardboard from the steps I milled in the center block to the edges of the hole we cut in the beam just to provide support for laying up new fiberglass.

Hardboard installed to support fiberglass layup

This is where we decided we had reached our limits of ability and time. We hired a professional fiberglass repair person to close up the operation. He did an excellent job of building up several layers of resin impregnated mat, tapering it into the existing structure. He then filled and sanded it perfectly smooth and then painted the beam to match the existing gelcoat. A hand held buffer eliminated all the brush strokes to the point that we cant see the repair at all. He charged $700 for the repair. I think that was worth it, as he had to come back a number of times between fiberglass layers, fillers and coats. It probably averaged out to $35.00 an hour including materials, which is a pretty good deal these days.

We did need to cut off about * of the top of the compression post on a radial arm saw to get it to fit again. Make sure you trim the top and not the bottom so all the screw holes for the doorjamb and bulkhead still line up.

Finished! View from the aft side

Finished! View from the forward side

Before the mast was re-stepped we caulked an 8 piece of PVC tubing in the hole on the deck to prevent water from running down inside. All the wires were routed with a loop so that water would drip off them and not go back uphill into the PVC conduit.

Here are the drawings I made of the various pieces it took to build the new structure. Note that the hole I drilled in the large aluminum block is at an angle to compensate for the alignment between the hole in the deck and where the wiring enters the compression post.

Assembled view

Top piece

Side pieces

If these drawings arent that readable, I can e-mail them to you. Contact me at allan_hadad@notes.seagate.com. Make sure you verify all your own dimensions before attempting to replicate from my drawings. Each boat may be slightly different and I may have made some errors in my dimensioning.

Total cost of the compression repair was around $850.00 which included having the yard remove/replace the mast.

While we were at it, we stripped the mast of all fittings and paint. The yard primed and painted it. We had our rigging replicated (minus and inch or so for stretching) and re-assembled it ourselves. I added a tri-color light, combination deck and steaming light, wind instrument and all new wiring. The wiring is extra long so that all connections are inside the settee by the holding tank now. There are no longer any connectors under the mast. I also re-plumbed the head as that was all exposed. Total cost for the whole job was $2500.00. Thats half of what the yard quoted just to fix the compression problem.

Weve been sailing in San Francisco Bay for 3 years now since the repair. The structure is still as solid as ever. It is definitely a bulletproof structure. There have been no signs of movement or cracking of the repair. The rigging continues to remain tight and the boat sails much better (much less weather helm) than before.

I hope the photos and details described above are of some value to those in a similar situation. It really isnt that difficult of a repair and if you do a lot of the disassembly/re-assembly yourself, you can save a lot on the labor rates that the yards have to charge. The truss could be made at a local machine shop for a reasonable amount if you dont have access to the tools I did. It took us four consecutive weekends to complete. Too bad were still working for a living or we could have been done a lot sooner.

Central piece