On Sunday I took out my 1981 Hobie 16 for the second time. When I was stepping the mast, the base separated leaving me in a precarious position. I was lucky to have my neighbor along (I had considered sailing solo that day). He was able to run around and catch the falling mast before I did any damage.

I plan to get some new rivets from my Hobie dealer today and maybe use larger rivets where the four small rivets are used.

I made a short video of my stepper hinge in action and noticed that when raising the mast the hinge lifts up and causes the ball to miss the socket. Take a look at the video here (you should first save it, then run it):

http://www.cooknwithgas.com/Sailing/Mast_Base.AVI

It's a big file (21 MB) so don't open it if you have a slow connection.

Comments and/or suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks,

Scott Laughlin
Omaha, Nebraska