Cabin top cracking around the mast step

General Discussion
1

I’ve been looking at a potentially buying a local Freedom32 but I have some concerns. Most are sos metic but two that are concerning are the circular cracking in the mast gel coat and some bad cracking around the cabin top around the mast where is steps through.

Mast: I’ve found some papers and topics on this site which would appear to indicate it’s superficial cracking in the mud/gel coat and not in the carbon but I’m not sure how to verify. Circular cracks are prevalent from the cabin top to the top that I can see.

Deck Step: These are more concerning. I have a friend who is a naval architect and marine surveyor who raised similar concerns and advised caution since it’s a free standing mast. The deck has clearly been stressed. He’s only seen pictures but advised for a local surveyor to have a look. Looking for opinion from anyone else who may have similar issues. We also know that “L” bracket is missing from the base of the mast and after a bad storm last summer the base of the mast started to walk circularly on the bottom top hat. Clearly that would need to be rectified. I’ve read some of the earlier model boats had epoxy at the mast base and I think the connection broke free during the storm mentioned. I also know the mast has been “stuck” and hasn’t been pulled in years (not sure why as it seems pretty straight forward to remove after reading how from this forum). Anyone have any similar deck top cracking?
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For the cabin top crazing, I suggest you check all the bolts underneath the deck collar. I’d been having some stress cracks at the traveller and found the nuts underneath were working loose. I am adding a backing plate just to give it extra rigidity, but have come to believe that bigger washers and rebedding of all those bolts probably would have been a good fix on its own. That’s not to say you don’t have bigger problems with the mast too (post a pic of that, if you can), but the Freedoms seem to have been built better than most. Would be great to hear what your professional says! One other thought is to see whether the crazing has gone deep enough to compromise the deck underneath and let water into the core. That would be bad in that area.

3

Virtually, every F32 I have seen has some deck crazing. More often than not, it is a matter of the Gelcoat being too thick. (the more is better school of thought) I’m sure you are getting a local surveyor to examine your issues. More than the crazing I would worry if there is any water intrusion into the core. I looked at five F32s before I found one without core damage. Good luck!