Hi all,

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience replacing "bushes" on a sabfoil mast. Posting pictures and links is not allowed because my account is here is new.
Other brands call them 'inserts' and as far as my research goes, sabfoil are the only ones that call them 'bushes' so I guess that someone with sabfoil experience will know what I am referring to.

Mine are ccorroded and even though it seems straight forward to replace them, I'm afraid of ruining the screw head (binding drive) and ending up with one or more misaligned and stuck bushes or worse.

Is there a safe way to lubricate the area or a safe way to force the hardware out?

Help is greatly appreciated! It's easy to find a webshop to bay the hardware parts but no instructions anywhere unfortunately.

They're nothing special it's exactly the same as the cross nuts / dowel / barrel nuts (call them what they've been called for 80 years please Sabfoil)

same as tuttle fins etc

hammer them out sideways with a bit of rod or a screwdriver
they're just a press fit

bit of WD40 doesn't hurt


however looking at the pics on your profile they're not bad? Unless the thread is corroded enough to be loose ...

Hoppline shows how he replaces the barrel nuts in his Slingshot mast
How to replace the barrel nuts and screws on your Slingshot Phantasm Carbon mast - YouTube

Select to expand quote

Mark _australia said..
They're nothing special it's exactly the same as the cross nuts / dowel / barrel nuts (call them what they've been called for 80 years please Sabfoil)

same as tuttle fins etc

hammer them out sideways with a bit of rod or a screwdriver
they're just a press fit

bit of WD40 doesn't hurt


however looking at the pics on your profile they're not bad? Unless the thread is corroded enough to be loose ...

Select to expand quote

FlyingPeew said..
Hoppline shows how he replaces the barrel nuts in his Slingshot mast
How to replace the barrel nuts and screws on your Slingshot Phantasm Carbon mast - YouTube

Thanks a lot to both of you! I have more confidence about it now. Such a small part is actually very crucial.. I'm going to do better maintenance from now on..

(Universal terms help indeed)

Yes universal terms are nice. If you looked for barrel nut in fin it would be a lot of results
nothing is new ..

Select to expand quote

Mark _australia said..
Yes universal terms are nice. If you looked for barrel nut in fin it would be a lot of results
nothing is new ..

Nothing is new :)

A hammer and something smaller than the hole works, at worst you will need to drill them out!! had to remove mine from a sab mast as they split in half.. get the new titanium ones they don't stick and are not as fragile as the brass ones. They are also an odd side not quite the same size as the standard windsurf fin nut think a there are few outer foils that use the same sizes but it annoying...

I would not recommend anyone tries to drill them out

it is very very difficult to drill a hard thing like metal out of a softer thing like a carbon laminate. needs to be so precise so at the least a drill press and good clamping.
never seen them not just knock out easily... even if corroded just some vinegar dissolving the crud, or WD40 lubing and you're away

I make my own barrel nuts for my mast conversions and it's not impossible. I use basic shop tools like a drill press and as vice and there's a degree of trial and error. Drill press, vice, M8 drill and tap, Grinder

Thanks for bringing this post back to life! I tried everything except drilling, and so far , no bueno! :(

What I tried:
-wd-40, soaked for hours, banged strongly with hammer =nothing
-"rust free" (acidic solution, supposedly safe on fiberglass= nothing
-liquid wrench (famous penetrating oil that works like magic on nuts and bolts) =nada
- spent the whole weekend doing that and my only succes was not breaking the mast (if all the oils and acid has not broken it yet)

The weird part is that the barrels are not even that corroded and now they are shiny after all the attemps to loosen them. The bad part is that I banged on the screws sideways (with the screws in the barrel of course) to try to loosen them, so the threads are not 100% probably.

My goal was to replace them with the titanium ones asap so they don't get even more stuck, and maintain them afterwards.

Drilling was my last idea but I guess that I need to take a hundred 5 minute breaks so the surrounding area doesn't get too hot? Precision could be achieved by protecting the mast I guess ore using a fixed router or drill I guess..

Please don't tell me that my nuts are perfectly fine :)
I have an ankle fracture now so I guess that's worse but I'm really bummed about these "bushes". Was galvanic corrosion discovered in 2023?

Thanks again to everyone that replied

Are you trying to hammer them out sideways? That's the proper way and it should be easy as hell. put it in a solid block with a hole in it
lay the mast on it so hole is under the barrel nut
use a bit of steel rod that is smaller dia than the barrel nuts (or a screwdriver you don't care about) and then a hammer on that.

If the mast is well supported on a bit of wood you pretty much could not hammer hard enough on the barrel nut to damage the mast. Go hard

Thanks again Mark. I did exactly that but used pvc foam instead of wood. Before trying it on the mast, I tried it on an old windsurf fin (without carbon fiber and much older than the mast) and it was super easy.
I think that the difference here is galvanic corrosion.. all 6 barrel nuts are completely fused

I could flip the mast upside down and fill the insert with penetrating oil and let it sit for days but I'm pessimistic about doing that.

Cheers