After the Watertribe North Carolina Challenge I noticed that the Mast base plate was coming loose and the mast furling drum had moved up the mast 1/4". This created a mast latch problem. Under load the mast would release and slide up several inches out of the mast receiver.
The mast base plate is held in by four small screws. Hobie uses Loctite on the screws. There is a documented problem with these screws coming loose. If they start backing out they hit the bese of the mast. The plate also starts moving around making things worse. My solution was to use epoxy. The plate is locked in place even if the screws come loose. Also water can not sit around the base creating corrosion issues.
I could not easily move the furning drum and glue it to the mast. I tried to flow as much resin into the small gap. To increase the strength and keep the drum from sliding up I wrapped layers of graphite and fiberglass cloth above and below the drum. Then I spread fairing compound over the top. This was sanded and faired to allow the mast to slide into the receiver smoothly. Here is the final product.
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