Removing the mast receiver on my 2015 PA 14

Hey folks, been learning a lot on the forums. Just picked up my PA14 about a week and half ago. Been rigging it up and even caught a few fish on its maiden voyage. I have picked up some LED lights, Lowrance Elite 5 FF, and some other electronic goodies for night fishing and bow fishing. In arranging my power/battery setup I had a 35ah Duracell AGM battery that I already had and want to use to power everything. It will allow me to take multi day trips with having to plug in to recharge and I even have a solar trickle charger already for it.

My question is can I remove the mast receiver in front without it causing damage to the hull integrity. It appears it doubles as a structural support as well. I would prefer to mount my tray and battery right where it is attached but dont want to weaken the boat. Any help/insight will be appreciated.

No one has an opinion on this??

I've pinged engineering on the question, no answer yet. Not something I have ever heard someone do. Has to add some structure. Did you consider using the Hobie battery mount that attaches to that post inside the hull?

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Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Thanks Matt. Yes I did look at them but I really want a higher amp hour battery something in the 18-24ah range as a minimum. The 35ah I have will be plenty if I can get it to fit. The battery mount and smaller ah battery is going to make me have to add another battery for lights, live well pump and other electronics (cameras,speakers)
I had planned to use the rear hatch but the new skeg design prevents anything of any size going in there. Since the battery is AGM I could lay it on its side in the middle but prefer it upright and upfront if it wont hurt the boat integrity. Thanks again for pinging the engineers, please let me know what they say.

Matt, not sure this is helpful to anyone, I updated to a 2015 PA-14. While planning what accessories would work over time I decided to try to mount two battery holders under the front hatch on the sail mast post one on top of the other. Works great and does not interfer with the placement of the front tub.

The dealer was happy to know it worked as we tried it when I was picking up the kayak.

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Just a Kid to the End

Stealth---That is awesome, exactly what I need. Thanks!