How did I break the mast step?

I was beat at the end of a long day in the sun and got the mast turned the wrong way, sail track pointing to the arrow

I know I did it wrong, but why did the mast base break?
The slots in the base appear symmetrical.
I would think it should have still come down without breaking the mast base like it did.

PS: Why cant this boat have a mast step like the 16 or the 18.
The twisting the mast makes no sense to me.

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2004 Getaway with wings

Why did it break? Leverage. Likely you still didn't keep it aligned. You might find marks from the post threads cutting into the base. Both the 16 and 18 steps systems were problematic in their own ways. These really do work best.

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

The original mast base had tons of marks all over it, on both sides but far more on the "correct" side, it was quite beat up.
I put the new one on this weekend and it already has thread marks on it after just one set up.
And I thought I had kept it fairly straight.

Would it make sense to wrap the exposed threads with a thin sheet of material or have a thin wall tube that covers them?
I would think this would tend to slide easier and/or self center the mast rather than dig into the soft mast base like the bare threads seem to.

IMO ideal would be if the ball stud was not fully threaded and had a smooth shank area below the mast ball threads.

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2004 Getaway with wings

Makes sense, but if kept in alignment... not an issue.

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

From the pics in the mast stepper III manual, it looks like I am not alone in having trouble keeping it in alignment enough not to gouge up the base.
That is pretty much what my old base looked like except with one ear of the pin area snapped off.

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2004 Getaway with wings

I'd take a file to those threads to smooth them off.

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