Mast screws loose

[Bill O'Donovan]

I have a Hunter 29.5 built in 1995. Imagine my surprise to find after 1,500 miles this season that the back two screws of the mastplate had come out, unscrewed themselves by a good quarter-inch. When I went to rescrew them, they were slightly off center, both of them. Yet the front two screws are down tight. Anyone else have this problem? Yikes.

 

[Terry]

HI BILL, THE MAST STEP SHOULD BE ...

secured with bolts, with washers and nuts on the inside of the boat, and properly sealed. Terry

 

[Bill O'Donovan]

The metal plate is bolted already

...but it's the base of the mast that was originally attached with four machine screws and no bolts. What's baffling is why these two are off-center while the front two are okay. Eh?

 

[Andy]

Angle adjustment

Bill, could the rake of the mast have changed enough so that the screws are not going back in at the same angle? Maybe it's not fore/aft left/right but some other angle of the bolts.Keep us posted

 

[Wally Momsen]

Hi Terry:A related problem. I seem to have a leak from the mast through the deck step down through the compression post of my 1995 29.5. I have removed the wiring access cover at the top of the compression post and it does not appear wet. Is there something I am missing?

 

[Steve Dion]

Wire loop.

Wally:I am not sure how your boat was build, but a common problem is water running down the wires. If this is the case you just need to create a drip loop. Run the wires so the go below the tube and then back up. This way the water will drip off the wires and not run down the compression post.