Hi Mates. I wanted to write what happened to my mast after a windy and very dusty session which took me about 3 weeks to resolve. Maybe this experience will be useful for someone, maybe even the manufacturer implementing semi-useful features.

A month ago my Severne RED RDM mast got stuck after a side shore windy session. A ton of dust was blown around. I'm a pretty handy guy and this is the first time since I started windsurfing 15 years ago my mast stuck in such a way that I couldn't remove the top section whatever the hell I did..
I used 4 people, booms, knocking on the edge with plywood, car jack.. W40 penetrator with booms etc... Eventually, after 3 weeks of trying dif techniques i bought a stainless steel pipe and knocked the bottom piece out through the top section..
However, it made me rethink and remove a few features from my Severne masts that do wipe the sand and dirt off the inside of the top section and don't let some water in that ultimately work against you if you try to unlock badly stuck mast.

Feature # 1:Red cork in the top of the bottom section ferrule with protruding edges that wipes the dust when you slide the mast in but in case the dirt gets into the joint grabs and compresses it making two sections stuck even more
Feature #2:Top section cork which supposedly prevents some water from getting into the top section (water till gets in and cannot get out) but then has to be somehow cut out if you need to use heavy artillery like metal pipe to knock the bottom piece out. I was lucky that in my shorter RED RDM that cork made of crappy Styrofoam. In my longer Severne RED RDM that top piece cork was made of very rigid rubber and would take me God knows what to cut out through the top of the top section.

I know about electric tape (will use it in very windy conditions from now on) but after that experience I did 2 things in my 3 Severne RDM Red masts: knocked out the top section water corks. Cut/sanded the protruding edges of the red cork which covers the bottom section ferrule making its diameter a touch less than the ferrule itself. Would've actually been better if it was made from some super hard plastic then knocking the bottom section out would have been much simpler.

drawing attached.

Bring back one piece mast, got to be stronger and lighter plus you wouldn't end up with the top section stuck in the luff tube of your turbo gt when you pull the mast out.

A few of my RDM ones have the male bit in the top section so nothing gets floated down into the mast. Tape helps too. Did get a mast extension jammed for a bit though.

Guy at LG this year had the same thing happen with his Severne rdm, we tried everything and could not get it separated, I would remove the rubber plug and leave it off.

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Ben1973 said..
Bring back one piece mast, got to be stronger and lighter plus you wouldn't end up with the top section stuck in the luff tube of your turbo gt when you pull the mast out.

Most of mine have been 1 piece since mid 90s.
(that's correct 30 years old, and still going strong).
Stronger lighter with consistent curve. The only problem is, they have to go on the roof rack. And being a short guy, that precludes high roofed vehicles.

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choco said..
Guy at LG this year had the same thing happen with his Severne rdm, we tried everything and could not get it separated, I would remove the rubber plug and leave it off.

That's why they are called Gorilla masts. 3 blokes at each end going "GGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"

You guys are funny. Forgot to mention that I also tried heating (so it expands a bit) top section around the section where the ferrule slides in to no avail. So long stainless steel 1/2 inch 7 feet pipe worked knocking on the edge of the bottom section ferrule through the top section.. and it didn't release right away, took a few short sessions and destroyed about 1cm of the ferrule.. Again never in my life I had an issue where I couldn't unlock the mast. That red cork with protruding edges and plug in the middle of the top section also hold any sort of lubricant you want to spray down...

I remember when I bought these masts and they are amazing masts, I thought - such amazing small thoughtful features - soft cork with larger diameter that wipes the dust, water stopper cork. Both work amazingly well against you in case of badly stuck mast.

All out now !!

Just put some gaffa tape, or a piece of bicycle inner tubing, over the mast gap and you'll keep the sand from entering in the first place. ;)

Sanding down the junction so it's a bit looser may also help.

Manuel. Thank you.These tips work for very basic mast separation. My post was about something different.

PS
I would separate that guys Ezzy mast in say 7-10 seconds since these have no water cork and very hard plastic ferrule cap.

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I would separate that guys Ezzy mast in say 7-10 seconds since these have no water cork and very hard plastic ferrule cap.

That is because Ezzy masts have the ferrule in the top section. Having it in the top means the sand/dust falls out of the joint, not into the joint.

No need to redesign-the-world... just use $0.01 bit of gaff tape around the joint.

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mathew said..

I would separate that guys Ezzy mast in say 7-10 seconds since these have no water cork and very hard plastic ferrule cap.

That is because Ezzy masts have the ferrule in the top section. Having it in the top means the sand/dust falls out of the joint, not into the joint.

No need to redesign-the-world... just use $0.01 bit of gaff tape around the joint.

The other thing I like about that design is the top section can't get water in it, but the open-ended Severne tops do.

The downside is it looks like they use inflatable bags as the inside of the tooling to make the bottom section. My 460 bottom gets water in the top and bottom as the tooling bag left over from when the mast was made in the mandrel makes a separate sub-compartment in the top and bottom. No big deal but just something I noticed. They are also built heavier than severne (this may not be a bad thing....)

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SurferKris said..
Just put some gaffa tape, or a piece of bicycle inner tubing, over the mast gap and you'll keep the sand from entering in the first place. ;)

That works until you crack the end cap on the top piece of mast, then it's "Goodbye California !"

Great tip about the push bike inner tube BTW

Good discussion. Got derailed a bit but hope that the point about soft ferrule caps and water corks got through..

PS. since Nolimitz/Ezzy has no water cork and hard plastic ferrule plug, one can spray some W40 and then throw in 2-3 feet metal pipe through bottom (Ezzy) or top (Nolimitz) section and the opposite section will pop out like a cork from the Champaign bottle. :)