On one of my boats the mast has always been incredibly difficult to take apart after sailing. I have formulated various theories about vacuum forces and such, mostly to occupy my mind whilst I struggled to get them apart. The other boat fits snugly, but I wouldn't call it difficult.
Last week I was rigging up, and noticed that in my struggles the previous week the end cap actually came off the top section and was jammed, immovable about 4" down in the top of the bottom section. I was stuck, I tried various tools, drove a screw into the plug and pulled with vise grips, no dice.
I consulted my ham & egger repair manual and it recommended a hammer and a long screwdriver to pound the plug down into the top section, which worked just fine, making a great sound as it moved down the top section.
My questions... will the plug wandering around in the top section cause any problems? My guess is that it will just stay in there happily forever. Second, is it really necessary to replace the bottom cap of the top section? Will the top section's naked bottom cause issues under load?
Last week I was rigging up, and noticed that in my struggles the previous week the end cap actually came off the top section and was jammed, immovable about 4" down in the top of the bottom section. I was stuck, I tried various tools, drove a screw into the plug and pulled with vise grips, no dice.
I consulted my ham & egger repair manual and it recommended a hammer and a long screwdriver to pound the plug down into the top section, which worked just fine, making a great sound as it moved down the top section.
My questions... will the plug wandering around in the top section cause any problems? My guess is that it will just stay in there happily forever. Second, is it really necessary to replace the bottom cap of the top section? Will the top section's naked bottom cause issues under load?