Chrysler Sailors Forum

On Thursday afternoon I ordered a hinged mast step from Rig Rite by phone. It arrived in Fridays Mail! That's what I call service.

I hope there's one left for me! Still working on my mast (and other) projects* so I'll use this opportunity to ask two questions. (There's a dozen more that you'll see this month!) *project list at viewtopic.php?t=977

1. Are the pins on the hinge likely subject to lateral stress and undo?-- Since the stays and shrouds are really holding it down, I wouldn't think so. However, it one of those popped what do you think would happen?

2. If I have the bottom cap of the mast off for wiring purposes, do you think it would be worthwhile to affix the top half of the hinge to the foot of the mast while the cap is off? -- An advantage would to be able to use bolts rather than screws a good idea?

*project list at viewtopic.php?t=977

Sorry, here's no 3-Did the placement of the double plate affect the tightness of your stays and shrouds (in my case, will it affect the length of my new standing rigging)?

The pins have rings on the ends so Im not too concerned about them poping out. The old mast step finger was not strctural in any way, once the mast was up the weight of it and the shrouds kept it in place.

As for the shroud and stay length, Capt Scott sent my a PM in which he raised that issue. Yes, you should account for the extra height added by the plate assembly. Our shrouds are old and loose so not real problem. It may even be a beneifit as we really can't take up quite enough tension on the shrouds and back stay. Its Ok but we can't rake the mast as I would like.

Hopefully someone will weigh in on the bolt issue.

Fran already addressed the standing rigging issue so . . .

If you use through bolts, you may want to consider something like "LocTight" to ensure the nuts do not come off!


I would not remove the bottom of the mast just to put bolts in however if it was already off for any reason, I likely would have bolted the hinge!

Scott