Hey all,
I want to get ready for another year of sailing and the last time out the mast step holes broke out. I bought a back up(used) because I didn't want to buy a new mast base too. Well I've come to find after drilling out the rivets, pulling off my old one and attempting to put the other one on it doesn't go down all the way even with clamps pulling it together. I loosened the bolts on the striker rod and pushed the quill down all the way. Here's a picture of the position of the quill and the hole it's supposed to align on the mast step. With the quill pushed out of the way the mast step has no problem making firm contact with the crossmember so it's definitely the misalignment between the two that is preventing it from seating all the way. So can you guys give me a little advice? Should I make adjustments and route more metal out of the top of the crossmember or should I find some mast step that is tapped another 1/8" aft of the replacement I bought? It seems like these holes and clearances are very tight and I don't want to take metal away to get it to fit if the tolerances are tight by design. Does anyone have any knowledge of this changing over the production of the 16? Mines an 83 btw. I really don't want to move this repair forward without knowing what to do next because I can't add metal back after I remove it.