Thanks Mike, I wondered about the possibility of rivets damaging the mast or pulling thru. Although the bail is currently riveted on. I like the drill and tap idea, seems I could suspend the mast horizontally, poke some epoxy up into the hole, run the screws in, and with luck the epoxy could settle around the threads, increasing the contact area.
I've also considered replacing the ss bail with a loop of Vectran from mast track to mast track, any thoughts?

Dave