Mast Step rebuild on a Morgan 34 and a question about intermediates on same boat!

[rshearley]

I have a 1966 M-34 Centerboard that I am in the process of restoring.
The mast step was originally steel and included the turning block for the bronze board mounted to the underside of it..
The turning block puts significant forces on the step and the step was rusted through. I rebuilt the step using fiberglass and replaced the original wire rope board pennant with amsteel and a harken block mounted on the underside of the step.
I was able to find a stainless captive step to replace the original steel one which had four spikes that captured the mast on the inside.
The problem I have is this..
The original step was angled aft downwards by about 15 degrees and the mast had the corresponding angle cut into the base. This wasn't a problem since the original step only held the mast from the inside.
For the new step to work it needs to sit horizontally and the mast needs to be cut at 90 degrees so it sits plumb within the new step.
I would essentially build a fiberglass wedge to make the new step horizontal.
I don't think this is a problem and since the bottom of the mast is corroded it may be a good thing but I am not sure why the original step was angled back.
Would having the new step horizontal change any of the forces at work?
The rig also does not currently have toggles on the bottom of the lowers and They have to be set up so the pin acts as the pivot and when I acquired the boat one of the lower turnbuckles was bent. Would it be wise to raise the mast step another inch to allow the addition of toggles?
On a bizarre side note I found a new set of wooden spreaders that we had had sitting around for years before acquiring the Morgan in my loft and since the original ones were in dire straits I replaced those.
The old spreaders seemed to want to angle downwards slightly and had to be wired really well to keep them square to the shrouds so I elected to add intermediates which seems to have helped and there is evidence of there possibly being intermediates in the past but I haven't seen any similar Morgans around with them... Any thoughts on if I did the correct thing?
Thanks in advance ... what a great wealth of information on here...
Rich Shearley
Siren 1966 Morgan 34

[Brion Toss]

Hello at last,
And first, apologies for letting this question hang out there so long. We are in New Zealand, and it has taken us a couple of weeks to adjust. We are now mostly unpacked, and slightly less busy than we were in the frantic days before departure.
So, to get to the issue, by all means cut the mast at 90 and build a wedge under it. The loading will be slightly different, but for the better; it will be directed squarely down on the step.
Have you removed the corroded portions of the mast? If so, you can compensate by adding some height to the support. If not, why not?
What are you using to isolate the step and mast? The fasteners?
Do you have drain holes in the new step?
Raising the mast to add toggles won't cure the foul leads; it will only give them a longer arc to act on. Toggles are for articulation, not taking loads around corners.
As for the spreaders, I am assuming that by "intermediates" you mean lifter stays, which were indeed a feature of boats of this era. Please discard them, and angle the spreaders so that they bisect the angle that the shroud forms around them. This will put the spreader in pure compression, eliminating the tendency of the wires to push them down. Then seize strongly at the outboard ends, firmly enough that you can stand on the spreaders and they won't slip. You might need to modify the spreader brackets to allow all this. Worth it.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss