Mirage Drive Mast: How Many Bends Before Break?

I seem to be on my way to making a habit out of bending these things. ..... Just straightened out my third bend.

The Question: How many times have you straightened out yours without it breaking? ..... i.e. is it time to order a couple replacement masts against that event? ..... Or is it rare?

Tangentially: Here's the straightening method I am using (suggested by another owner)..... bench vise, use the Mirage Drive body as a lever. ..... https://picasaweb.google.com/1081497986 ... 9096664178

Does this look reasonable? ..... My concern would be stressing/breaking something further up the system and/or the effect of the vise's tooth marks on the mast.

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2015 AI in "Dune" - "The Grey Pig"
2017 Trailex 450 Trailer
Pre-September 2015 cradles
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I would have a spare, or two, around all the time. Until then, I keep bending them back until they break. I carry one spare on the water with me, just in case it happens out there.

Roughly how many bends do you have on your most-bent one?

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2015 AI in "Dune" - "The Grey Pig"
2017 Trailex 450 Trailer
Pre-September 2015 cradles
(anybody want to buy a slightly-used AI SpinKit?)
eMail: [email protected]

Just my opinion, but I don't think I would attempt to straighten a mast still threaded into the drive portion. It's too easy to damage the drive portion while you beat on the mast.

I watched a dealer on the Florida Gulf unthread the mast from the drive first and then straighten the mast with the aid of a vice and hammer.

Very easy and you can roll the 'straight' mast on the work bench to confirm it's not still bowed.

bill

Did you get to see how he detached it?

Wrench on the flats? Vise on the flats? Did he apply a torch to the mast to heat it up enough to break the LocTite?

_________________
2015 AI in "Dune" - "The Grey Pig"
2017 Trailex 450 Trailer
Pre-September 2015 cradles
(anybody want to buy a slightly-used AI SpinKit?)
eMail: [email protected]

The dealer set the mirage drive on the table and removed the ring ding and pin at the top of the fin that holds the fin to the drive assembly. After the fin was removed he gripped the mast shaft with a small vise grips and simply unscrewed it. It really doesn't matter if you score the mast a little while gripping it .......... it's entirely covered by the fin.

After massaging the shaft a little with a hammer and vise (no heat), checking the result by rolling the shaft on a flat surface, he re-threaded the shaft (no loctite or lubricant) .....slid the fin back onto the mast and reinserted the pin and ring ding at the top of the fin. My first 'bend' of the mast shaft was almost a 90 degree bend and it straightened easily.

He then teased me to "stay out of the Gulf".......I didn't and visited him again during the week to straighten the mast shaft again (slow learner).

bill

That is kind of the Tootsie Pop question. Maybe we should ask that old owl. I keep two spare masts in my kayak. They are very easy to change out. The hardest part for me is removing and re-inserting that round cotter pin. That sucker has a tendency to shoot off my pliers or screw driver and right into a scupper hole.

Unless it is an emergency, DO NOT use the drive as leverage to straighten a shaft. The shaft sprocket is injection molded plastic, the shaft is metal. Good chance the plastic will give/break before the metal rod. I suggest you remove the rod, straighten it in a vice, do the roll test, and re-attach.

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STLKayak
2020 Pro Angler 14 360
St. Louis, Missouri
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005695487937

And from the pulpit of the church of the bleeding obvious....

The question should really not be "how many bends before break" but "how do I minimise the number of times my Miragedrive shaft gets bent" in the first place.

Whoever made up the expression "prevention is better than cure" was on to something.

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

After the first big bend I replaced the mast with a new one. The bent one became the spare. Taped to it is the wrench size needed for the flats. That way if I do have a failure the spare is there and I don't have to worry about it breaking at the wrong time.
Speaking of that, I am replacing all the plastic AKA bolts on my '13 this week. Never had one sheared but I figure after almost 3 years of hard use they are probably nicked and weaker than a new one. The old bolts(if they look decent) can go into the spare location just in case. A very cheap but comforting bit of preventative maintenance.

Something else I find comforting: a handful of round bamboo chopsticks in the left storage pouch in the cockpit. .... Break an aka bolt, just grab a chopstick and shove it in as a replacement.

In testing, it held up in wind that was starting to bury the ama.... yet sheared off when I gave the aka a good bump.

Got several spare bolts, of course.... but find replacement on dry land preferable to on-the-water.

_________________
2015 AI in "Dune" - "The Grey Pig"
2017 Trailex 450 Trailer
Pre-September 2015 cradles
(anybody want to buy a slightly-used AI SpinKit?)
eMail: [email protected]

Murky bay water hiding sudden shelves can do it....

OTOH, sometimes there is no cure for stupidity.... I quit flying airplanes when I saw that in myself.... -)

I think I will just buy a couple new ones, install them, keep the others onboard as spares against the day when one bites the big one.

Only loose end is the LocTite situation. ..... It is tempting to install them w/o LocTite for ease of replacement in the field, but that would seem to introduce the complication of corrosion.

So the search is on for something besides LocTite to serve the anti-corrosion function.

The observation that using the drive body to bend them is a Bad Idea rings true to me and I will mend my ways in that regard.

_________________
2015 AI in "Dune" - "The Grey Pig"
2017 Trailex 450 Trailer
Pre-September 2015 cradles
(anybody want to buy a slightly-used AI SpinKit?)
eMail: [email protected]