Stuck!! Chinook mast base stuck in mast track, any ideas?

ejowsurf · Joined: 18 Jun 2012 Posts: 2

I have somehow managed to get my mast base (foot) stuck in my boards' mast track. The mast base is a Chinook single bolt twist-on type. When I twist the mast base to tighten or loosen, it just spins, the bolt in the mast track does not "engage" at all. It's a very strange problem that I've never encountered before. Might be stripped? I've tried forcing the mast base down the mast track, but it won't budge at all. It seems to be wedged in or something like that.

Any tricks or ideas out there to remove a stuck mast base without causing damage to my beloved board/mast track? Can I disassemble the mast base? I can justify sacrificing the mast base, but not the board.

Thanks for any ideas!

rich1 · Joined: 10 Apr 2000 Posts: 146

Well that sucks!

If I had to guess, I'd say the bolt is spinning in the base. I think you're going to have to disassemble it from the top, if that's even possible.

I'll take a look at mine to see if I can see a way to do it when I get home. Just looking at the photo on the chinook site, it looks like there may be a lock screw going in to the side, but somehow I doubt it.

Not knowing how it's put together though, I wouldn't risk sailing with it.

Chris

swchandler · Joined: 08 Nov 1993 Posts: 4609

No doubt, a perplexing problem. The question I have is with regard to the component at the end of the threaded SS rod that fits into the slot of the board's mast track. Is that component made of brass? If it is, it's likely that it has been stripped somehow trapping the universal assembly in a fixed position in the track.

At Jalama some years ago my board and sail separated in the surf zone. My sail sank to the bottom, but I was ultimately able to locate it and fished it out of the water. The board showed no evidence of the brass plate, but the threaded end of the universal still had remains of the brass thread attached to it. Needless to say, I will never use those brass parts again. Fortunately, I still have some of the old SS threaded plates that I now use exclusively.

In your current predicament, I wouldn't use the board until you remove the universal, since the action of windsurfing might suddenly force things apart. Unfortunately, I'm thinking that going to sacrifice the bottom part of the universal. If you've got an hourglass style universal, the job might be simpler, but I'm afraid nothing is going to be easy. If you can remove enough of the protective plastic plate to get close enough to threaded rod and plate, you just might be able to get a screwdriver or punch into the mast track and hammer it to the opening in the track.

scargo · Joined: 19 May 2007 Posts: 235

You should be able to disassemble the foot, maybe even without damaging it. But first maybe try to wedge something slippery under there, e.g., a wide putty knife, to see if you can create some positive grip on the bolt so that it will start turning along with the foot. This effort might be aided by trying to squirt a little penetrating oil on the nut via the long plastic tube on WD-40 etc. Sounds like it could be a combination of the nut & bolt seizing plus, as the prior poster theorized, a foot that's somehow lost its grip on the bolt.

bubbalover · Joined: 03 Jul 2006 Posts: 14

If you've removed the rubber and just can't get it out try an easy out. They're designed for this very thing.

rich1 · Joined: 10 Apr 2000 Posts: 146

OK, so I just went and looked at mine.

Assuming yours is the same as this http://www.chinooksailing.com/products/product_info.php?products_id=110

You'll need a 4 mm and 5mm allen key. The 4mm will unscrew the bottom bolt so you can remove the tendon, and then once the tendon is out, you'll see a large countersunk allen bolt that is the other end of the bolt you can't loosen on account of the whole thing spinning. You should be able to turn this, (with your trusty 5mm allen key) and remove the whole smozzle from your board and then tighten it all back up again. No harm to anything at all.

Good luck

Chris

ejowsurf · Joined: 18 Jun 2012 Posts: 2

Mystery solved. Thanks for the helpful thoughts and ideas. The base that I have is not a tendon (I wish), but is the hourglass rubber kind, so I could not remove it because the top bolt goes "top down" into the hourglass and the bottom bolt goes "bottom up" into the hourglass. Like this: http://www.chinooksailing.com/products/product_info.php?products_id=106

Here's what happened; From years of tightening and loosening (spinning motion), the top of the mast track bolt slowly ate away at the plastic insides of the mast base, deforming the hard plastic hex bolt holder shape and effectively "stripping" it. The bolt head no longer had any resistance, no traction, just spinning.

Here's how I extracted the mast base; I covered the board to protected it and used a very fine hacksaw (hacksaw + carbon tabou rocket = holy crap) to cut into the mast base at an angle to expose the side of the mast track bolt, that was the hard part because I obviously didn't want to damage the board. Then I wiggled an open ended wrench into the opening and was able to loosen the mast track bolt with a simple turn. Naturally, the bottom of the mast base is junk now, but I can use the other parts for salvage or repairs in the future.

What a nightmare. Not a scratch on the board though. Whew!

Thanks.