Mast Hound - Aye Yai Yai

[Currie]

While out with my "new" '04 last week, I noticed that my shroud tension was pretty uneven. The starboard, lower shroud was always looser than the port one. Also, the rotating mast clearly favored one direction versus the other. I would always find it turned in the same direction at the dock. The shrouds were set the same (pin positions) - and I wouldn't expect there to be much difference in the length of the shrouds....then I looked up. Ugh! I noticed right away that the stay/spreader hound was mounted with a bolt that was about 3/4" further back on one side than the other. The whole thing was turned slightly to one side.



The pic is taken looking straight down, squarely at the front of the mast. I drew center lines in blue. It's actually worse than it looks in the pic. I don't like this at all. I'm really disappointed in the craftsmanship. Jigging the mast for drilling is one thing I think the factory should get right.

I don't know if bending the hound is practical. I'm thinking I may need to order an undrilled hound and correct it myself. Drilling new holes in the mast is out IMO - it would weaken it.

I've heard of others reporting a mast that tends to one direction over the other. Perhaps I'm not the only one? Either way - anyone have any thoughts on this??

Thanks!

~Bob

[baldbaby2000]

Bob,

I haven't noticed anything like that on mine. Are you sure the shrouds are the same length? You might want to measure them just in case.

Daniel

[Currie]

Just checked. They are. Funny thing about the hound mounting is. Besides being off to one side, it's also a little lower on one side. I don't think it was jigged at all - just run through by hand.

[MrBarry]

I have ready many on this board claim that they must employ monkeys for some the work at the factory. I thought that may have been a bit harsh.


....but there is the evidence.



The holes in the hound are created before being folded and formed, so, I think the chances of getting the exact same one undrilled is low, unfortunately.
A bit ugly, but you could weld extensions onto the tang area of the band and drill new holes to match the mast.

Just thinking out loud........


James

[tangentair]

You might want to consider marking the arms and drilling them for the correct location then taking it to a welder and having several washers (or one real thick one) welded over the correct location, if the welds are done from both sides it should hold just fine. I had to do something like this to a CT scanner one time and it doesn't even look all that bad. But it is unfortunate that QC is not a priority.
In hind sight I was lucky and got a good local dealer, that doesn't fix the factory problems but I do feel confident that when I find one he will be there to help resolve the issue someway.

[Catigale]

Could you move and redrill the hound instead of the mast perhaps??

[Lease]

What a shame you have that to deal with.

It is not a good product endorsement.

[Currie]

Could you move and redrill the hound instead of the mast perhaps??

That was my thought above, but with a new undrilled hound if I can find one - but I'm looking into the other suggestions from Tangent and MrBarry. I could maybe add (weld perhaps) material to the lower shroud tang and deal with the uppers by cutting some length off of one spreader(?). But that still doesn't center the pivot point on the spreader hound....hmmm.

I'll be out of the country for 9 days starting tomorrow (vacationing in Ireland - Yay!). I'll look at it more when I get back.

~Bob

[Bill at BOATS 4 SAIL]

One posibility is that it is a replacement mast, purchased without the holes drilled, which is available from MacGregor. I've sold them that way.
A customer can save some money by removing the hardware from the damaged mast, drill the holes, and install the hardware on the new mast.
I believe Currie purchased his boat used, from a customer that bought it from me, I think.
If it came from BOATS 4 SAIL I'd like to think I would have noticed it, but it's not something I've looked for, or noticed, in the past. I will in the future.
Has anyone else noticed anything like that on their boat?

[Currie]

Great news,

I called Bill at the factory. He said, "yeah, that's not right". He's special-ordering an undrilled hound and sending it free of charge. Hopefully the supplier won't have an issue. I'll drill the new hound myself to match the offset holes in the mast. I'm very pleased with the MacGregor factory

Cheers,

~Bob

[MrBarry]

Thats great Bob!
Nice to see you were treated well.


James

[Currie]

Just a follow up to this old thread. The new mast hound is installed and is now centered correctly. Drilling the new hound off-center left the back edges of the holes (on one side) pretty thin looking, so I had the metal shop reinforce them by welding on some stainless steel washers. It all cleaned up very nicely and my shroud tension and mast rotation are now normal. . FWIW - the 3/4" offset noted above was a bit of an exaggeration - it was more like a 1/2" difference from one side to the other on the mounting holes - due to a roughly 1/4" shift off-center (see pic). That's a lot when it comes to steel shroud tension.

Cheers,
~Bob

On Edit: Forgot to add - the repair was done to BOTH the shrouds-mast-hound and the spreader bracket - so both are corrected.