Irwin 28 masthead casting has cracked...

I am still in limbo about the masthead. The new pieces are over $400, and they aren't even that good.


http://www.pearsonariel.org/discussion/archive/index.php?t-47.html

This was posed by Theis:

I, too, had the problem of the masthead casting breaking. In my case, one of the "ears" had broken off.

The prior owner put a plate, perhaps 1/4" thick, on the side of the masthead fitting with the broken ear and bolted the plate to the side through the solid center of the masthead casting. That worked for more than a decade, although I wonder if it was by luck or because of engineering design.

When I redid my Ariel, I removed the masthead casting and had a plate welded by my local steel supply house to cover the entire length of the casting. That fitting is too important to take any chance of corrosion or something that is not benign. So I did it right.

The plate is the approximate shape of the entire casting side, including both ears on one side, so it totally overlaps the flat side of the casting. Additionally, a smaller plate, with a thickness and shape similar to the broken ear, was welded to replace the missing ear so that the gap between the port and starboard ears remained approximately what it was initially.

He also welded a plate similar to the whole plate onto the good side of the masthead, just to be sure nothing on the other side broke. The way it is now, I don't think one of those Daisy chain bombs they used in Afghanistan would break the casting—which is the way it should be! I hope that helps and makes sense.