Mast will not seat all the way

2007 AI mast will not lock into the mast hole, it sits about an 1/2" above and won't lock in. The mast has the male end on the mast and female base on the kayak. It has the silver tab and cable release. Any opinions???????????????

Debris down in the bottom of the mast step - that's happened to me a couple of times.

Brian C

Likely its just out of adjustment inside the hull - the 'V' brace has turnbuckles which are adjustable - they need to be lengthened so it draws the cup down away from the deck for full insertion. (It is weird that is would be off, but we have seen this on occasion) If you need further instructions e mail me directly.

The mast hole is clean and free of rocks or anything else, so I will look into the v-bracket adjustment.

Jholtco

Make sure the mast end is not seperating from the mast tube.

The metal collar is supposed to prevent this, but perhaps you have a very old mast



Here is the adjuster if you need to lower the cup. Loosen the lock nut (see blue mark) then adjust brass piece. I can't believe it would be 1/2" off tho.

I would be worried about adjusting too much and have a bump develop in the keel as the cup gets pressed down into it too far.



I guess it could also be caused by the furling spool coming unglued from the mast tube and shifting up some. Be sure to check it.

This happened to me. The pressure from the downhaul will raise the spool if the glue fails. It happened to me in the middle of the river. Nearly had the mast pop out of the base.

Sure seems the most likely thing that would make the mast off by 1/2". I would never try adjusting the "Y" frame by that much. + or -1/16" yes - 1/2" no.

The glue on the mast end piece was prone to failure on a handfull of the earliest masts prior to the collar upgrade. Assume same glue used on spool.

2 '07 Islands w/ the "collared" mast & hundreds of uses and so far no problems. I do like to '08 mast updates, but will not likely change unless the older ones somehow break.

Yakaholic