Mastbase broken

[thorsten920]

Hi,

I own a Dragonfly 920 from 1996 and my Mastplate is broken. I hope anyone of you have an idea to buy or repair it. I sent a Mail to dragonfly in Denmark and wait for an answer.



Thank you for assistance.
Thorsten

[Steve B.]

Take it to a good welder, and tell them it's on a boat and in salt water.
They should be able to make it as good as new.

[gminkovsky]

My mast base was bent. Quorning sent the replacement which also included massive screws - noticeably larger than in your picture.

Be very careful not to drop a screw down! It happened to us and took a few hours to get it back. otherwise it would chew-up board up/down ropes.

Also, methodically clean the deck and seal with the right sealant.

[Ultradry]

My mast base is broken on the rear side.
The weld of the front stainless steel flange of the Board Up sheave is broken (starboard)
Under the mast foot pressure the rear flange got bended and foot is stopped on the Board Up rope running on the sheave.
As a result it is no more possible to move the board.

I checked on another DF920 (an Extrem) and found that the same weld is cracked but not yet fully broken !

The starboard side is submitted to more forces than the other side as the main and genoa halyards are on starboard.

Does that happend to any one.?
Any recommendation on how to reinforce the mast base in addition to the rewelding ?

Please click on the photo to see it enlarged!

[sjschweitzer815]

I have the same problem. I need to remove the plate, but don't want suprises...is there a compression post attached to the underside of the plate or does the plate simply sit on top of the deck?

[gminkovsky]

@sjschweitzer815: The mast base is attached to the deck with screws. No other surprises.

@UltraDry: why is the pin not in the mast base? I understand that the pin CAN be removed once the mast is up, but what would be the reason? I think the pin keeps the mast from pushing onto the board line flanges!

[sjschweitzer815]

Regarding he pin...
I don't see how the pin can prohibit the problem of the twisting forces that cause the plate to break. I have never sailed with the pin in place. It is my experience that when tensioning the back stays, with the pin in place, it doesn't allow you to tension the forestay.

Can anyone comment on this?

[Double Horizon]

I can see how the pin can spread the resistance forces to more parts of the base.

However, in viewing the picture it appears that a tremendous amount of force pushed aft on the forward face of the sheave box.

The only way this would happen (I think) is if the owner lowered the mast (tilting it forward) without the pin inserted.

If that's what actually did happen the owner is very lucky if that's the only damage, and especially lucky if no one was injured.

[Christian]

Hi
Have just removed my mast base, to me it looks like there was a layer of 1 mm silicon between base and boat. To my surprise it looks like the holes where filled with silicon to. And the screws where screwed into silicon.

Is this to make the mount flexible?

What is your recommendation, add silicon and remount?
/Christian

[gminkovsky]

Just use a proper sealant to prevent moisture penetration. Do not put anything into the mount holes. Use screws 1 size larger. If the holes are already too large, fill with epoxy, then drill new holes for the larger size screws. The mount should have NO flexibility.