Hi Jeff, sorry for the delayed response. I'm not on here much.
1. We used a "come-along" tied to a few needle nosed pliers what we were able to fit onto the comp tip plug. You can pick up a "come-along" at Northern Tool or Harbour Freight. We needed to heat the alum mast up quite a bit (heat evenly with hand torches) to get the comp plug to release enough for us to get the needle nosed pliers in there. After we got the needle nosed pliers we tied them together with chain and used the "come-along" to pull all pliers together. What you don't see is that we had the other end of the mast (the base) tied to a tree.
2. We heated the aluminum mast up slowly and evenly with two torches going around for 10-15 mins or so. I don't recall exactly how long. You just want it hot enough to release the epoxy resin that holds the plug in.
For the life of me, I don't understand why Hobie has not put out any sort of guidance on this procedure. I've searched high and low looking for more information, but nope, it's all secret....
Let me know if I can help in any way. I've got a few pics also if you are interested.
