Mast fitting
Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2020 12:00 am
As I mentioned on David’s thread we managed to crack the original mast plug fitting when raising the mast during refurbishment. Can’t really complain after 40 years I guess. I have no idea if it was treated with anything back then but the bloody thing was glued in like no tomorrow. I managed to get one of the three screws out neat , the second needed a wider slot cut to accommodate an impact driver but the third basket wasn’t budging. I tried liberal application of heat but was scared of damaging the new wiring and spectra halyard in close proximity to the disaster area. Finally ground the head off, gingerly tried to centre punch the ss bolt and drilled out the remaining bit of bolt with a cobalt drill. Major league PITA.
Then the real fun began the plug itself was stuck solid and after bashing on the flange with a rubber mallet and soft drift nothing gave other than a section of the flange parting company. In the end we gave up and had a nice red over lunch and read my usual goto in these circumstances, Practical Boat Owner Forum . I was very concerned about damaging the mast itself
There is usually some ray of hope researching PBO but all we got was tales of doom and gloom of cutting the mast base off and shortening all the standing rigging .§€$&&@* and #$&*a. May just finish the rest of the bottle of red and forget the whole thing
After lunch we began a process of trying to reduce the mass of the plug by drilling, hacksaw and colourful language plus everything I knew about penetrating oils , heat and sweat . Nothing , nada, b*ugger all, even after we got a clean cut through the back of the plug with minimal effect on the mast tube.
In the end the thing that saved us was that flange on the plug was 1mm proud of the end of the mast (see pic ) so by getting a pound hammer and slugging it further into the mast just that 1mm we managed to break the bond of the corrosion. Bashed it back and forth a few times and finally it come out. Then finished the bottle of red
Interesting the new one, which I had on hand from when I replaced the base mount, fitted easily with plenty of play. We did however coat it with copious amounts of Duralac to save the next poor basket the same issue. Rather than thread the plug as the previous installer had done I drilled the holes out slightly in the mast and used 8 gauge ss and nylocs.
I can tell you I treated the new mast plug like a bloody Faberge Egg till I had it drilled out and installed
Just a WARNING re Duralac. I was advised by Bob Keely that it’s important to use it even between aluminium to aluminium let alone dissimilar metals and it is good gear to prevent the issues I’ve just encountered but as I’ve mentioned before it is HIGHLY CARCINOGENIC and even the dude at the boat shop when I bought it said to wear good chemical resistant gloves when you use it. After application I left everything to dry for a day, even the tools I’d gotten it on . Just sayin’ . .
Then the real fun began the plug itself was stuck solid and after bashing on the flange with a rubber mallet and soft drift nothing gave other than a section of the flange parting company. In the end we gave up and had a nice red over lunch and read my usual goto in these circumstances, Practical Boat Owner Forum . I was very concerned about damaging the mast itself
There is usually some ray of hope researching PBO but all we got was tales of doom and gloom of cutting the mast base off and shortening all the standing rigging .§€$&&@* and #$&*a. May just finish the rest of the bottle of red and forget the whole thing
After lunch we began a process of trying to reduce the mass of the plug by drilling, hacksaw and colourful language plus everything I knew about penetrating oils , heat and sweat . Nothing , nada, b*ugger all, even after we got a clean cut through the back of the plug with minimal effect on the mast tube.
In the end the thing that saved us was that flange on the plug was 1mm proud of the end of the mast (see pic ) so by getting a pound hammer and slugging it further into the mast just that 1mm we managed to break the bond of the corrosion. Bashed it back and forth a few times and finally it come out. Then finished the bottle of red
Interesting the new one, which I had on hand from when I replaced the base mount, fitted easily with plenty of play. We did however coat it with copious amounts of Duralac to save the next poor basket the same issue. Rather than thread the plug as the previous installer had done I drilled the holes out slightly in the mast and used 8 gauge ss and nylocs.
I can tell you I treated the new mast plug like a bloody Faberge Egg till I had it drilled out and installed
Just a WARNING re Duralac. I was advised by Bob Keely that it’s important to use it even between aluminium to aluminium let alone dissimilar metals and it is good gear to prevent the issues I’ve just encountered but as I’ve mentioned before it is HIGHLY CARCINOGENIC and even the dude at the boat shop when I bought it said to wear good chemical resistant gloves when you use it. After application I left everything to dry for a day, even the tools I’d gotten it on . Just sayin’ . .