I was idly looking at my old 460 RDM mast and noticed a non-displaced crack about 1/2 cm long longitudinally on the lower piece at the joint. The ferrule is on the top piece. The inside felt perfectly smooth, there was just a minimal bump felt on the outside. I'm wondering if my attempted fix will work. I used about 4-5 layers fiberglass cloth with West Systems epoxy to cover the crack, the width of the cloth is about double the length of the crack.
The other thing I noticed about the mast (not sure if this is new or worsened) is that the ferrule fit is not very tight, a noticeable click and movement of the joint as you bend the mast in any direction. This might be due to wearing down of the ferrule due to sand over the years (I now tape the joint to prevent sticking). This does not seem good for the joint, so I coated the ferrule with slightly thickened epoxy (low density filler), let dry, and then sanded it down so that the joint no longer wiggles, it has a nice smooth fit.
Any opinions on whether this was worthwhile effort? Beyond rigging the sail on the beach, stressing the joint on land, and repeated visual inspection, any way to evaluate the repair? I'm thinking that any failure of this will be preceded by visual evidence that the fiberglass repair is loosening, that would occur before a catastrophic on-the-water failure.