MD 180 Broken Mast

[ful-rac]

Here's something that's worth posting about....

Was out fishing this weekend and broke another mast, this time on my MD180. I always carry spare parts and tools with me but unfortunately since I upgraded to the newer style drive my spare parts don't fit the new drive minus the drive cables. In this case spare parts would have done me no good as the threaded portion of the mast snapped off inside the sprocket. On the older versions of the Mirage Drive you could just swap out the sprocket on the water with not too much difficulty. With the newer style drive you can't really do that. The correct way to fix this problem would be the warranty route, in that case I would have had to replace the entire spine, which includes the entire mechanism and sprockets and what not, and also waiting a couple of weeks to process.

A couple weeks without my drive...? No... that will not do...

So this is how I was able to fix it up!

Here is the moment I confirmed my broken mast! DAMN! It's going to be a looooonnnng paddle back...




Yep...




So on the way home, I gave Andy a call at OEX Sunset Beach. I told him about my broken mast and asked if he had a replacement mast available....and he did! While I was there I noticed that the broken mast that came off of the drive was in fact not the correct turbo fin mast but was the standard size st mast, which is at least an 1.5 or 2"s, short. I bought the drive new with the turbo fins installed too. I guess it was a mix-up at the factory...In any case I walked out the door with 2 new masts and a new project.



Broken fin removed from the drive.



Here was the task at hand...1/2" of broken mast at the bottom of this hole. UGH!



Here are the tools I used to get the broken mast out.

And the procedure was to center punch the broken piece as close to center as possible...check. Start drilling with a smaller sized drill bit and drill thru the broken piece....check. Step up the size of the drill bit to fit the size of the easy out....check. Insert easy out into correct sized hole and back broken piece out. Check.



Here it comes!



Close up.


Voila!



New masts from Andy, screwed right into place!



Back in Business!




Thanks Andy for the spare parts, as you can see everything worked out just fine .

[Iceman]

Impressive wrenching! I have had to do similar on snapped bolts on my son's moto bike. Glad this ended up working. The wrong sized masts were a surprise. This was one of the very first 180 drives, it had come with a Pro Angler, before I could even order separate drives.

Diggin' the new light and flakey carpet kit!

[kirkdavis]

Originally Posted by Iceman

Impressive wrenching! I have had to do similar on snapped bolts on my son's moto bike. Glad this ended up working. The wrong sized masts were a surprise. This was one of the very first 180 drives, it had come with a Pro Angler, before I could even order separate drives.

Diggin' the new light and flakey carpet kit!

That is nice carpet....Same color as the underside of a halibut, and fringe that looks like fins!

[TJones]

of mast being shorter? or is this just one one the failures that comes with usage?

[ful-rac]

Originally Posted by TJones

of mast being shorter? or is this just one one the failures that comes with usage?

I would say it's a failure that comes with usage. I noticed that they have an updated version of the 180 drive that eliminates the screw and nut mechanism on the fin. Looks like they are calling it the MD180 V2. Looks like the style I have has now, since july has been discontinued.

[TheBentRod]

How many others feel this way?

"A couple weeks without my drive...? No... that will not do..."

Very resourceful! mad props!

[monstahfish]

I doubt warranty would let you go "a couple weeks" without your drive. That being said, nice work getting that out. Screw extractors are a life saver and a must have in everyone's garage.

[Mahigeer]

Are the shafts stainless steel?

If so drilling SS is very difficult.

Unless they are less grade of SS.

Regardless, good job on repairs.

[DanaPT]

Originally Posted by monstahfish

I doubt warranty would let you go "a couple weeks" without your drive. That being said, nice work getting that out. Screw extractors are a life saver and a must have in everyone's garage.

Absolutely looks like i need one of those thingamagies.

Nice work Tony... working like a surgeon.

[monstahfish]

Originally Posted by Mahigeer

Are the shafts stainless steel?

If so drilling SS is very difficult.

Unless they are less grade of SS.

Regardless, good job on repairs.

They are stainless but it can be drilled if done properly. Drilling stainless requires high pressure, low speed and lots of oil. If you overheat it, it will blue and break your bits.

[FISH11]

Nice work Tony, drilling out a broken bolt or stud is not easy because it's hard to drill centered and large enough to use an easy out that will bite well and hold the amount of pressure needed. In this case it helps that it's in a brass bushing and not rusted in. Even though this is a good post on a possible weak area. I wish you had told us about the nice Hali on board. I think the broken mast is because that mast had a defect other wise it would not have broken in that spot and not had stretch signs on the metal post instead of a clean break.

[ful-rac]

The mast was pretty hard, but like Shane said low speed, and also taking your time to get your drill centered as close as possible really helps. Starting with a small bit and stepping it up to a larger bit several times takes time so you have to be patient. At least it wasn't as bad as an exhaust stud...compared to one of those this one was a piece of cake...

...another thing that made this project challenging, is that the broken piece was recessed back into the sprocket about an 1" or 1 1/2...

Makes me wonder if Hobie were to score the mast an inch or so below the end of the sprocket to make a point where if the mast were to fail it would fail in a manner in which you could replace it without the use of special tools....Of course that would make a weak point...but that is the point...just a thought. It's alot cheaper replacing a mast as opposed to replacing complete spine assemblies...

[kirkdavis]

Originally Posted by ful-rac

The mast was pretty hard, but like Shane said low speed, and also taking your time to get your drill centered as close as possible really helps. Starting with a small bit and stepping it up to a larger bit several times takes time so you have to be patient. At least it wasn't as bad as an exhaust stud...compared to one of those this one was a piece of cake...

...another thing that made this project challenging, is that the broken piece was recessed back into the sprocket about an 1" or 1 1/2...

Makes me wonder if Hobie were to score the mast an inch or so below the end of the sprocket to make a point where if the mast were to fail it would fail in a manner in which you could replace it without the use of special tools....Of course that would make a weak point...but that is the point...just a thought. It's alot cheaper replacing a mast as opposed to replacing complete spine assemblies...

If the threads start that deep in the sprocket, it should reduce the cyclic stress where it broke, so I agree that there was something wrong with the part from the factory.

[alanw]

Originally Posted by kirkdavis

If the threads start that deep in the sprocket, it should reduce the cyclic stress where it broke, so I agree that there was something wrong with the part from the factory.

Or there is too much play between the mast and housing, or the housing flexes too much, and there isn't enough support past the threads. Or, Tony is just a beast.

[kirkdavis]

Originally Posted by alanw

Or there is too much play between the mast and housing, or the housing flexes too much, and there isn't enough support past the threads. Or, Tony is just a beast.

Well said.


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[Raskal311]

No covered under warranty?

[Iceman]

[No covered under warranty?

I gave Tony the masts...............on me.

[ful-rac]

Originally Posted by Raskal311

No covered under warranty?

Yes, Andy did supply me with the new masts. Hobie and Andy (OEX) have stepped up and taken care of me many times before, as well as all other Hobie owners.

...Good reason to buy your Hobie from OEX!

[octico]

Originally Posted by ful-rac

Yes, Andy did supply me with the new masts. Hobie and Andy (OEX) have stepped up and taken care of me many times before, as well as all other Hobie owners.

...Good reason to buy your Hobie from OEX!

+1

[Mahigeer]

Andy runs a glass operation.