Hobie Kick Up Fin set Screws

I have a set of kick up fins that came with my 2020 Hobie Outback. The kick up tension got really loose. In effort to tighten the nylon set screw, I the head was compromised and circled out from the Allen wrench. I am ordering a set of new ones since they are sacrificial. Anyone have any tips on how I can get the damaged one out to install the new set screw?

Thanks-in-advance!

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2011 HPA
2006 Wildy Ride 135
2019 Hobie Compass
2020 Hobie Outback

I had the same issue on both of my fins. I was able to get one of them out but the other one is still stuck. I'm interested to see if anyone has found a good safe way to get them out without damaging the plastic threads.

Not knowing how big the nylon screw is....Just a thought.....is it possible that you can use a small solder iron "chisel tip" and melt a slot for a screw driver to engage the screw?

Maybe a small easy out might work too after drilling a pilot hole.

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Dr.SteelheadCatcher
Warrenton, OR

Mine was too far gone to try this. There wasn't enough plastic screw left. I did glue a hex key into the screw using epoxy and that didn't work. Actually what I ended up doing was drilled out the entire plastic screw thinking I could use a small flat head screwdriver and pop the remaining portion of the plastic screw out but that didn't work. It's a pretty rigid screw. I do think heat is about the only way I'm going to get it out. The trick is not to overheat the area and damage the threads on the drive body.

I had the same problem with my set screw for the kick up fins. I was able to remove the old set screw by drilling a small hole in the center of it and inserting a small bolt. The drill that i used was 3/32 and the bolt was a M3-0.5x16mm Socket Cap Screw, which I purchased at Home Depot. I threaded a small nut onto the cap screw and then put on a small toothed washer. I screwed this assembly through the hole I had made in the plastic set screw using an Allen wrench. When the screw projected through to the other end of the set screw, I put on another small toothed washer and a small nut. I tightened the nut that was accessible to me essentially sandwiching the plastic set screw between the two nuts and the two toothed washers. Prior to doing any of this I had sprayed WD-40 on the set screw and let it sit overnight. I had to tighten the nut quite a bit to get the toothed washers to dig into the plastic of the set screw. After the nut was well tightened, I turned the cap screw counterclockwise, and the set screw came out. I don't know what size of the toothed washers were, but they have to be smaller than the inside of the threads of the plastic set screw so that they won't bind on the plastic housing. The drill hole needs to be centered as accurately as possible as well. I have some photos of it but I'm not sure how to attach them.

I know this is an old thread but it's a recurring issue. What I did was heated the end of a small flat screwdriver with a torch until it was glowing hot, then stuck it into the middle of the stripped screw as far as it would go (about 1/8" or so) and then let it cool. Sprayed a bit of WD40 on it and tried to turn the screwdriver to back it out, the handle was so small I couldn't get enough force so I turned it with channellocks and it broke loose, at which point I just unscrewed it and there was no damage at all to the threads.