Mast Pivot Bearings

Went through some inventory and found that I had no pivot bearings. Does anybody out there have any available that they would be willing to part with? Not too many hobiecat shops in my neck of the woods. My e-mail is [email protected]

Thanks,
J

The mast bearings are just about 1.25" diameter teflon disks about 1/16" thick. If you have a plastics shop in town you might be able to buy a piece of scrap for a few bucks. You can cut them out with tin snips or heavy sissors.

Make sure the ball on the bottom of the mast is free of burrs and ridges otherwise the mast chips may spit out. If it isn't smooth, use a file to smooth it out and then some 300 grit emery paper to smooth it out.

cheers
Bill

3 words: Whiffle Golf Balls. Buy them by the dozen at walmart, cut them in half and they work perfect for mast chips.
This is not BS, they really work well. And CHEAP.
cw

Thanks for the input guys. Being that I just got laid off, I'll try the whiffle golf balls . Do you usually just use one and that is good?

J - Why work when I can fix up my hobie.

Mast Bearing "Chips"

One teflon chip should easily last you a year...

We used one bearing per boat at the 16 Worlds and figured that the amount of sailing time was similar to a full year of normal use. The bearings were still in the cups and still good, but thinned out a lot.

The trick? The "Chip Keeper" that Dan Ketterman (Hobie engineer) told us about and is now standard in all mast step castings. It is a simple array of holes inside the cup. Drilled 1/8" holes (6) in a circle just inside the diameter of the chip. Shallow indemts maybe only 1/8 deep. The chips get pressed into the little indents and are virtually locked in place!

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

hi im a newbie owning a hobie 14 turbo the previous owner suggested cutting circles out of a ice cream container lid which is cheap and seems to work well.
cheers Zac