Just wondered whether anyone has had a similar experience. Last Saturday I arrived at the sailing club with boat in tow and noticed that my radial mast was missing the top plug. Then I noticed the base plug was also missing. As you can imagine this was quite an inconvenience. I still don't know whether someone has taken them (highly unlikely as boat is garaged at home) or they fell out on the way there. Should the plugs be fixed in place some how? I thought they were a pretty tight fit so did not think they could just fall out.
Mystery of missing mast plugs
- Thread starter bluedog
- Start date
Merrily
Administrator
They are riveted in. Do you have a practical joker friend?
49208
Tentmaker
You mentioned they were a tight fit - if they were tight enough that you needed to twist them apart (or even tighter that you needed a friend to help twist them apart, it's quite possible that you sheared the rivets at some point. Without the rivets, and depending on the how long they had been sheared, I could see the collar and end cap coming off during a ride down the road.
torrid
Just sailing
When towing my boat, I always place the lower mast so the base plug is facing forward. If facing backawards, I think the airflow at highway speeds could create enough force to separate the base from the mast just as your describe.
...and if you place it plug facing backwards, it can make some serious noise, which is quite annoying (especially if you keep the spars on a roof rack)...
Which plugs are you saying have come out?
For Australia,
Top section: bottom plug is rivetted, collar is rivetted, top plug is pushed in. Collars and the bottom plug can come off if the rivets are broken by banging the mast to get the sections together or apart. The top plug usually requires a lot of effort to get out, the simple way is drop a boom sleeve or similar heavy weight down to knock it out.
Bottom Section: The plug is not rivetted and this plug often falls out as the plug is designed to be fitted into either the full rig section or the radial rig section which has a bigger internal diameter. The blue plugs hold a touch better than the white plugs. When people lose this plug, they'll mostly find it sitting in the bottom of the mast step.
If the section has been "end for ended" the plugs are significantly looser and can pop out easily. If I ever "end for end", I generally just replace all the plugs and collars to prevent this problem. Unless you have access to countersunk rivets, do not rivet the plug in the bottom section as you run the risk of damaging the mast step.
For Australia,
Top section: bottom plug is rivetted, collar is rivetted, top plug is pushed in. Collars and the bottom plug can come off if the rivets are broken by banging the mast to get the sections together or apart. The top plug usually requires a lot of effort to get out, the simple way is drop a boom sleeve or similar heavy weight down to knock it out.
Bottom Section: The plug is not rivetted and this plug often falls out as the plug is designed to be fitted into either the full rig section or the radial rig section which has a bigger internal diameter. The blue plugs hold a touch better than the white plugs. When people lose this plug, they'll mostly find it sitting in the bottom of the mast step.
If the section has been "end for ended" the plugs are significantly looser and can pop out easily. If I ever "end for end", I generally just replace all the plugs and collars to prevent this problem. Unless you have access to countersunk rivets, do not rivet the plug in the bottom section as you run the risk of damaging the mast step.