comptip mast - How tight? Some wiggle OK?

I am restoring an older Hobie 16, and the mast was bent so I located an older mast with a Comptip and a single hole tang.

The comptip is in good shape but when mounted on the boat and held in place firmly for transport, if I grab the end of the comptip, it wiggles a bit at the attachment point into the aluminum mast.. I probably get less than an inch play at the mast head but there is some play.

I have searched the forum and I realize that to be perfect it should be bonded in-place and 100% solid, but is this acceptable???

I am going to replace the single hole tang with the 3 hold tang I have from my other mast, and I was wondering if at that time I should remove and reglue the comptip, it is that not really necessary?

thanks

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2015 Tandem Island
Massachusetts and Squam Lake New Hampshire USA

I think the comptip needs to be solid. Any play and it will wear your comptip looser and looser until it fails. Also when it wobbles it increases stress to small points instead of evenly spreading the load. which means it could fail in a good gust.

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ALLEY CAT 1984 RED LINE HOBIE 18 MAGNUM
Sail # 10505 or 277

Agree, it should be tight. If it's loose enough to wiggle, then it shouldn't be too tough to pull it out and re-seat it.

sm

Thanks, I will pull out the comp tip, inspect, and re-install with some thickened epoxy as per some previous threads

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2015 Tandem Island
Massachusetts and Squam Lake New Hampshire USA

Update on Comptip removal process:
After drilling out the rivets with a 3/16's cobalt drill and punching the casing thru, I heated an 8" area on the aluminum mast using a propane torch, and tried not to melt the plastic sail track on the comptip. I applied only moderate heat.

The comptip would not budge so I laid the msat on the ground, tied the base to a horseshoe pin driven into the ground with a bunch of clove hitches. I tied the comptip with line to a tow strap and secured to my trailer hitch on my suburban.

Some slight pulling with the truck and me wiggling the mast up and down released the comp tip.

What I found inside appears to be the tip secured only with Clear RTV silicone and not epoxy as most posts I have read indicated. There was also a small metal plate the shape of the cross section of the mast inside that looks like it may have been glued to the bast of the comptip??, and I could see the foam Plug down inside the mast.

The next step is to decide what to use to glue it back in. i am leaning towards West systems thickened epoxy. My only concern is the possibility of having to remove it later.

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2015 Tandem Island
Massachusetts and Squam Lake New Hampshire USA

That metal plate belongs on top of the foam plug in the mast. Use a polysulphide caulk (BoatLife) to glue it back in.

WEST System will work fine to glue the Comptip back in. Thicken it with colloidal silica (WEST 407, Cab-o-sil) to a peanut butter consistency. Make sure to clean off as much of the old silicone as you can.

What is the function of the metal plate that is glued to the foam plug?

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2015 Tandem Island
Massachusetts and Squam Lake New Hampshire USA

Well I have to say after all the forum reading I did I never imagined how much work and how messy the comptip and tang installation would be.

An abrasive wheel on my drill cleaned up the inside of the mast, then acetone.

I called West systems and they suggested their flexible Gflex epoxy. I bought the kit with syringes and silica thickner, and it worked well. Lesson learned use more thickner or it drips

I have a pretty heavy duty rivet gun and I had to put a PVC pipe on the handles for leverage to be able to reasonably install the SS 3/16 rivits and casings, yowza the force required!

Coated the underside of the tang with GE Silicon before installing, because I didn't have anything better.

Seems solid as a rock. Very impressed my the West systems G-flex epoxy. Will have to see how it holds up.

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2015 Tandem Island
Massachusetts and Squam Lake New Hampshire USA