Hi guys. Fairly new to the forum, but the wealth of knowledge on here is astounding. Had a quick question and was hoping somebody has fixed this kind of problem before. When I step my mast, I look down at the hinge and I can see the hinge pulling away from the mast. I put new rivets on it the other day and that didn't help. Am I going to have to pull the mast bottom off and add a backing plate of some kind?

Thanks in advance,
Adam

That is exactly what I did a number of years back. Have not had a problem since. I think my problem when I was using a gin pole and the mast was about 30% raised and something got hung up and it took about 5 minutes to free it up. At least that is when I noticed a problem with the hinge being pulled from the mast.

Greg

This is an endemic problem with 35-40 year old P-18's Mast hinge. A quick & easy fix is to take it off & put it on other side of mast. Good for another 20 years. Pete

Appreciate the responses guys. I think I'm gonna go with the backing plate idea. Keep things clean......kinda sorta maybe. Hey Greg, did you use aluminium plate on yours? What gauge?

swcapitalo

Appreciate the responses guys. I think I'm gonna go with the backing plate idea. Keep things clean......kinda sorta maybe. Hey Greg, did you use aluminium plate on yours? What gauge?

Be certain to use Monel rivets. Aluminum or even Stainless will give you a loose hinge again.
You can find them at Murray's.
Here's an explanation of rivet sizing and nomenclature:

https://www.thebeachcats.…ictures?g2_itemId=126388

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Sheet In!
Bob
_/)_____/)_/)____/)____/)_____/)/)__________/)__
Prindle 18-2 #244 "Wakizashi"
Prindle 16 #3690 "Pegasus" Sold (sigh)
AZ Multihull Fleet 42 member
(Way) Past Commodore of Prindle Fleet 14
Arizona, USA
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EDIT: Disregard, I read the title as Hobie 18 mast hinge, not Prindle. I'm not familiar with the Prindle setup.

Deleted.

sm



Edited by Dogboy on May 20, 2017 - 10:14 PM.

Adam, did you finish the repair? Problem solved?

When my hinge tore lose, I repaired it with stainless and washers on the inside. Lots of goop.

The mast required a little JBWELD and redrilling of a couple holes due to wear and corrosion.

I also replaced my step hinge with this one from murrays:
http:// https://www.murrays.com/product/56-6815/

It's slotted, like the one in Prindles manual. The existing hing just had holes, and I suspect it did not allow the mast to pivot/hop on and off the ball well. I have yet to raise the mast and test it, but I thought I should mention it.

I use a pin on the boat side and a screwdriver on the mast holes. If you are bending pins and losing rivets, there's something wrong with the hardware geometry or the stepping technique. I'm still trying to dial that in, myself.

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Prindle 18
96734
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pbegel

This is an endemic problem with 35-40 year old P-18's Mast hinge. A quick & easy fix is to take it off & put it on other side of mast. Good for another 20 years. Pete

This is genius in its simplicity.

--
Sheet In!
Bob
_/)_____/)_/)____/)____/)_____/)/)__________/)__
Prindle 18-2 #244 "Wakizashi"
Prindle 16 #3690 "Pegasus" Sold (sigh)
AZ Multihull Fleet 42 member
(Way) Past Commodore of Prindle Fleet 14
Arizona, USA
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