Waching daily Jan 31 2017

and welcome everyone today I wanted to

share a few tips on how i go about

separating a two-piece mast that is

stuck together

the first is consistent bending and

rotating the mast to grind the sand or

the salt that prevent the mast from

sliding apart i like to use my whole

body weight on the mast to get as much

leverage as possible

I often sit or lean on it to crush the

dirt inside the junction the second tip

is to apply tiny droplets of penetrating

oil onto the gap the oil will seep in

and help break the seal if you don't

mind a very slight cosmetic damage that

may result of the edges of the junction

I find the next tip to be very effective in

getting the halves apart I use flat

screwdriver bits to fit in the gap

increasing their size gradually I start

with the smallest one and use bigger

ones as the gap widens first I locate

the widest gap to fit in the smallest

bit if needed I rotate the mast

around and push down to create a gap

wide enough I try to insert it as far in

as it will go

then I will take a master around and

press down as I do the bit is pressed

in from both halves which get pushed

away from one another

the gap below now lets me

insert a wider a bit and as the halves

separate the top bit might fall off

I keep repeating the process going around

the gap as the bits fall off it becomes

convenient to have a one-year-old around

to help to pick them up

Thank You Léana

when the gap is wide enough I use two

bits together instead

this increases the surface and speed

things up

when the gap is about one big

screwdriver bit apart all the way around

then it means it's time to move on to

the last tip the two-boom technique

depending how stuck the mast is I may

only use one boom on the most stubborn

masts I did have to often rely on two

booms one on either side of the

junction the clamps must be tight as

they cannot slide at all I have used

non-slip kitchen rubber pads but inner

tubes work just as well although they

may need to be sanded rough for maximum

grip in this scenario one boom was enough and

I used a piece of inner tube to help my

grip

first I tried to stick to one direction

using it unscrewing motion and pulling

towards me

once it becomes easy then I start going

back and forth I keep pulling slightly

away as the halves are rotating

here I also hold the boom with my foot

so I can pull harder at this stage if the

mast won't budge even with two booms then

I go back to tip number one and try

bending the mast in all directions to

grind the dirt inside after enough

bending and with the oil slowly seeping

in

eventually the mast should surrender

Voilà I hope these tips help you like

they helped me please share your own tips

in the comments below always looking

forward to hearing from you

happy sailing

ciao