Why a demasting?

Pretty safe assumption. Your mast is held in place from three points. When one goes away...so does the mast. I once had my stretch righting line snag on one of the ring dings at the shroud anchor and pull it out. I tacked and the mast went over. I use split pins (cotter pins) there now and wrap all ring dings with electrical tape.

How about sliding a big piece of shrink wrap cut about 1.5-2" on the shroud, then slide down over the ring ding and heat it up until is "Shrinks" around it?

Demasting, one of my favourite lessons when I teach.....

How about removing the cat-trax lines a little too quickly and vigorously...and the one line snags an un-taped ring-ding at the bottom of the shroud? Sailing away is no problem, until you come to tack.....by that time, the clevis pin has worked its way out and the mast comes down. Don't ask how we know.....

So the next weekend, the student was so spooked, he went sailing and wondered why performance was TERRIBLE....slow, unresponsive....then we suggested he remove the cat trax. The Hobie performs better that way!

Experience is a wonderful teacher.

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2015 H16, with spin,
SOLD 1989 Hobie SX18 Sail # 1947 "In Theory..."
'Only two things are infinite, the universe, and human stupidity. But I'm not sure about the former.'