The large aluminum fitting that the mast rests on has two stainless bolts holding it into the mast step plate. One of the bolts has the head sheared off and the other seems frozen. Any suggestions?
There should be one pivot bolt extending laterally through the raised triangular section of the mast plate (which is bolted to the cabin top), and also through the mast shoe (which is a half-round at the base of the mast). If yours had two of these bolts, something is amiss. It's possible that somebody drilled out the plate to accept two bolts, but then the mast wouldn't pivot on one axis when being raised / lowered. Could you clarify?
Two bolts? You're sure it's not just one long one sheared off on one side?
My kingpin froze on me due to too much exposure to the salty atmosphere here; I had to unstep the mast,-- the "shoe" comes off the mast pretty easily (and have been known to get lost while trailering, by the way) -- pull off the mounting plate and have the bolt drilled out of the aluminum fitting -- and the machine shop said that was a difficult task. I keep it better lubed now.
I guess what happened was that the nut on the threaded end froze and perhaps broke the bolt off at the face of the stainless plate. What you say makes sense about this being one long bolt since the hex head sits out from the plate by a good half inch. Maybe I need to heat it up a bit and whackit with a good mallet to see what happens.
Thanks for the tip! This boat is new to me so there is alot to go over, this mast step included.
when I purchased Illusion 8 years ago, I had the same problem, perhaps best explained by no zinc found!
It was an absolute bear to drill out and I also ended up at the machine shop.
Once you have the foot of the mast off you might epoxy in a coin (with an image of a ship for luck) for Neptune, he likes us to respect the traditions.........
I reset the foot with two screws from the mast, has of course not disconnected since.
Thanks for the info on the continuing mast step discussion. I am getting the impression that when stepping the mast, the pivot bold comes off first and the shoe stays attached to the mast base. What I have is a mast sitting on the bow and stern rails with the shoe and half moon shaped plate on deck with the bolt partially removed (about 3/4 of an inch still attached to the deck plate.
Question: if I remove the screws for the shoe, will the rest of the assemply come apart? And if the pivot bolt is frozen in the step pivot plate, what is the probability of the shoe screws also not being frozen?
