I had much less trouble stepping the mast with the new mast cleat, but once up, the pin refused to budge. With a hammer, I was able to extract it. However, I wasn't able to put the pin fully back in once I wanted to bring the mast down. Naturally, this was not an acceptable situation.
Upon inspecting the mast base, it appeared to be no flush with the mast. There was a 2-3mm of gap on one end, giving it a decidedly uneven appearance. Furthermore, it was being held on by various screws of different sizes.
When I removed the base, it was clear that the mast had some pieces ripped out, and the mast base wasn't looking in the best of shape either.
I went online to thebeachcats yahoo group for some help. I was looking to see whether I should get a new base and maybe cut the bottom half-inch of mast off. I got many suggestions. What I opted for was to get a new base. (I maybe could have gotten away with drilling some more holes in the old base, but it was a small price to pay for my peace of mind.) I did not cut the mast base, but drilled some new holes, and widened others.
In all, I put 5 steel rivets to attach the base to the mast. I used my hand rivet tool, which was hard, but doable. I also cleaned and re-caulked the entire base and all the rivet points. I don't really want the mast filling with water in case of a capsize. I'm still a little concerned about this, and am going to throw the mast into the pool when I get a chance. I might get a Hobie Bob to put on to the mast if it fails the swimming pool test.
No comments:
Post a Comment