MD 180 Broken Mast

[ful-rac]

The mast was pretty hard, but like Shane said low speed, and also taking your time to get your drill centered as close as possible really helps. Starting with a small bit and stepping it up to a larger bit several times takes time so you have to be patient. At least it wasn't as bad as an exhaust stud...compared to one of those this one was a piece of cake...

...another thing that made this project challenging, is that the broken piece was recessed back into the sprocket about an 1" or 1 1/2...

Makes me wonder if Hobie were to score the mast an inch or so below the end of the sprocket to make a point where if the mast were to fail it would fail in a manner in which you could replace it without the use of special tools....Of course that would make a weak point...but that is the point...just a thought. It's alot cheaper replacing a mast as opposed to replacing complete spine assemblies...