Mast Base Amputation

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

I had the exact same issue with my H16 except when my base pulled out, it ripped out the aluminum on the bottom of each rivet and my mast hit the ground, hard. I just epoxied the base back in and it's worked fine all season so far. I think the new hobie 16s aren't even riveted at the mast base, they are only epoxied. Now, when I'm stepping the mast, I keep one hand low on the mast pulling it back so the step assembly doesn't swing up.
jrg

Thanks JRG. I picked up some SS rivets at lunch and I'll add a little epoxy while I'm at it. I'm going to drill out the rivets on my mast tang and replace them with sleeves to seal the rivets. It looks like the mast base had aluminum rivets that broke. SS rivets are much stronger and will do the trick. Fortunately it didn't tear the holes on the bottom of the mast.

Thanks for the idea of pulling back on the mast so it doesn't swing up and jam.

Scott Laughlin
Omaha, Nebraska

I seem to recall a similar issue when raising my mast. I was using the older style mast step link. I purchased the newer stiffer model and have really liked it. No side-to-side wavering and no jumping up like you've described. Here's the Murrays pic:



Hope this helps your mast hinge behavior.

Fair winds,
Eric

My Hobie 16 also had a mast base that tore itself loose from the mast. It was partly my fault: I had one of those new stiffer mast step hinges, and I was using it UPSIDE DOWN. The ball of the mast base missed the cup, and I levered the mast base right off the end of the mast. Not good!

I bought a new mast base, stop-drilled the cracks in the mast, and drilled four new holes for riveting... you can drill them anywhere you find solid metal, right through the new mast base. The new base is very solidly attached, now!

Rick

OK, it's now fixed. I even removed the mast tang and re-riveted it in place after a good cleaning.

I have an idea - shoot it down if you think it won't work or if anyone has tried this.

Another hole in the mast base to correspond with the H-14 hole on the stepper may do the trick. If a pin is placed in both holes, the mast can't pop up. Maybe a double-pin tool that will go through both holes (so you don't have to bother with two pins). Even if the extra pin is smaller than the hole to give it a little play, it will keep the base from popping up.

I may try this and report back. Looking at the movement of the mechanism, it seems that two pins may do the trick.

Scott Laughlin
Omaha, Nebraska.

See the remark above about the heavy duty stepping hinge.
cat sailor step link

When raising the mast, I have always raised it partway with some speed, then hesitated and pushed it on up. The hesitation allowed the hinge to rotate back down and avoid the problem you mentioned. This year I am recovering from surgery and don't have quite the strength yet to manhandle the mast as before. I tied a small line around the hinge pin and wove it through the nearest rope on the tramp and back up. It held the hinge from rotating up yet had some give in it to prevent problems. I am thinking about devising a clip that would hook on the pin and the tramp rope. Has anyone else tried this?

Howard

UPDATE: I went home at lunch and drilled another hole in the mast base, then raised the mast all by my onesey. It worked great with no need to pull down or back on the mast.

I used the stock pin in the bottom and a small phillips screwdriver in the top hole. Tonight I'm going to weld two pins to a ring for a two-pinned key that I will attach with a string or cable. The only drawback is that you have to lift the mast to a horizontal position to get the holes to align so another person would be helpful. Today I used a ladder. Some sort of pole support may work and I'll come up with something for when I'm solo.

Attached is a picture of the second hole in the mast base.

Scott Laughlin
Omaha, Nebraska

Hey Scott,


Howard has it right, it's a technique thing, this works. The hesitation is at about 75 degrees, or just before the ball would hit the base.
Also invest $25 in the new mast step hinge.

Scott,

If you want to raise the mast by yourself, make a tripod to set the mast on. I used three tent poles, tied with rope, and set it up about 10' off the back. This will hold the mast level so you can line up the holes for the pin. You don't want to pin the mast and have the weight on the traveler track.

Howard

Just to add:

I slide the mast backwards and set it atop of a 6' ladder that is about 6' away from the rear boat. This allows me to pin the mast and gives me alittle more leverage as the mast is already at a higher angle than if just lying on the rear cross bar.

After pinning the mast, I take a flat rubber bungie and run it over the mast near the base, down through the tramp, and hook it on the dolphin striker. This will prevent the mast step link from rotating upward when you get to that point.

Make sure all the lines and wires won't get caught on the boat, and lift the mast. After the mast is past 75 degrees, the bungie will slip off the now stepped mast. The movement described earlier works good too, but when stepping in 95 degrees, I'm all for less effort provided by the bungie.

This really isn't needed if you have a crew to help push the mast back into place.

Hope this helps.