Hobie 16 cracked pylon

I bought a second hand Hobie 16 in Western Australia that I believe was made in the 80s. Its in good shape considering its age but one of the forward pylons has cracked. It must have been a problem in the past as it has been welded before. Now a new crack is evident just below the weld line.

I have managed to get my hands on an old 14 which appears to have the same pylon extrusion used in the mast. My plan is to pull out the cracked pylon and use a length of this extrusion to replace it. Its is probably not a sign of great things but both foredecks have inspection ports just ahead of the forward pylons so at least access to the hulls is relatively straight forward.

Has anybody had any experience removing and replacing a forward pylon in a Hobie 16? I would love to hear from you before this weekend if possible.

Replace a pylon? I doubt many people have done this. They're installed in the hulls at the factory using fixtures to make sure everything is in alignment. Without the fixtures, you'd have a hard time making sure the new pylon was in the right spot, and if you mess it up, you may not be able to get the boat back together.

Supposedly Hobie sells a pylon sleeve that you can purchase that fits inside the pylon to reinforce it. But I think availability of this sleeve is limited.

Your best bet may just be to find a replacement hull.

sm