Todd, you need to get back to us with a better drawing, that one wont do.

Understand/know the geometry thing. It stands to reason it happens easier without the lines all over the boom/mast. Still seems like you need something to lock it in, or in some cases force it, depending on conditions. Although effective I dislike the lines on the boom to force/lock rotation. Was starting to think of something like Todd is suggesting. Sounds like it's time to change the base and experiment!

I guess I should have added your-milage-may-vary to my earlier post. I could use that thing upwind and downwind...

Lets talk about doing this . . . AND other stuff...maybe tonight, not today off to the WH, hopefully will still have my head...

Agree. After seeing Todds diagram, I like the idea better than the boom thing.

Yah mon. We can talk about it, I've got a dealer I'd like to give some business to, we can place the order for the castings together. It'll make the boat easier to rig/derig too...

It's really a good system.. It actually locks the mast over... not like that crappy on the boom system.
Keith... I have a friend that just move down to Naptown his email is stephen_metzler@yahoo.com
He's interested in crewing and etc.... he's a good sailor, he's from my hometown of Madison, CT where we have a 30 boat catamaran fleet. He's working for Atlantic Spars.... He has a Hobie 18 "Mild Thing" that formerly belonged to Joe Manganello.
It'd be great if you could drop him a line and get him involved.

Will do. We're always looking for fresh blood, and he can bring his 18 to play! Atlantic spars might be a good connection as well...

Just a follow up here. I got the new mast base. It has a place for the rotator arm, and the pulleys for the bottom of the downhaul as well as for the main halyard. Adding this can clean up a whole bunch of stuff. My current retrieval grommet is centered behind the tramp pocket - I'll use that for the rotator line and add a grommet a little to the left for the retrieval line. The only thing is that the new casting has two large holes underneath it. One would be for the Infusion internal diamond adjuster, not sure about the other. I'll have to seal those. Anybody actually ever pull the mast base off of one of these things?

Why?

It shouldnt be the same base as the infusion as they have different profiles. Check to see if you got the right one before you bust up your other one taking it off.
Also, there is a plug in your mast just above the rotator arm bolts.

Dealer said the same casting is listed for both Infusion and 20 (which sounded odd but I went for it anyway). It looks right (and same piece comes up with a picture on Murrays), but I'll do more inspection before drilling any rivets. I was wondering if there was a plug. I may still seal the holes.

Chris - if the mast is unsealed at the base it would certainly fill if the boat went turtle. I can also think it would help the mast fill if there were a leak near the top.

Your mast should have a small (pin hole sized) hole in the very bottom of mast (aft end) this is a drain hole for your mast. Plugging this hole is not a good idea. If you do get water in your mast, this is the only escape point.

Got a small hole on the front of the mast for that, it's plugged unless I need to drain. The new mast base casting has two large holes in the bottom for internal diamond wire tensioning (not used on N-20). I'll be squirting some goo in those as well.

Ok - Pulled the old mast base out. Lots of corrosion and goop. If you want to use all the features of the new base, you need to trim away some of the sail track (about 2"). So far I've gotten everything except for the clam cleats off, have trimmed the sail track, made some epoxy repairs, cleaned off a lot of old crap. The new base fits well - this is going to look/work nice. It does sit lower on the mast ball though.

So - there was no plug. I kind of get the feeling that maybe the base has been off once before. It seems to have just been sealed with run of the mill silicon, but there was some evidence of some other sealer from a distant past (was white, kind of looked like maybe 4200). So I'm on the fence as to what use when I put it in. Regular old silicon? I also have some silicon/poly sealer, I have some 4200. Not sure what to use. Any opinions?

I believe you, Mike, are speaking of the boat that I still have -- Poison Girl. I kept on using it with one pin hole broken for years and it was never an issue. I replaced it last year, but when I went to step it the pin slipped, got caught in the crossbeam slot, and popped the hole open again (lesson learned!). So I'm still sailing with one pin hole and it doesn't make a lick o' difference.