Never Sail Without a Mast ChipBy David HallAluminum is a strange material when placed against itself under loading. The forces involved will literally weld the aluminum mast to the aluminum base. When you tack, the welds break and reweld. Eventually you will have a nasty mess inside there. If worse comes to worse and you don't have a Teflon chip, put a penny in the base before you raise the mast. The copper will provide surprisingly good "lubrication" and protect you from gungeing up your mast base. Besides, pennies are a lot cheaper than mast chips. Someone forgot their mast chip, tried this tip, and discovered that it worked okay. |
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