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The snapping and crackling in the Gulf water may be sea life - a significant population of mussels, clams, crabs, fish, etc. is actually quite noisy.

- Andy

Andy,

that could be a possibility with all the flotsam jetsam the poor craturs have to live under. . Would sure tick me off!!

But only at one marina out of four seems odd.

Perhaps that's why locally it's called " THE DITCH"

Update - I cut the liner (two notches down the sole) and bent the liner

Removed two 9/16 SS nuts (they run down onto studs which thread into the fiberglass centerboard trunk - interesting) on lower board

Removed two 1/4 inch nuts and one 9/16 bolt under mast step.

Bumped pole sideways and it slid out.

Elapsed time 20 minutes. Hardest part was getting the stopper knot out of the CB line...this needs to be replaced by the way.

Now the compression pole can make its rounds to my welding and corrosion experts

...in my mind, no matter what the outcome, my boat is 20 minutes from being back on the water once I have a compression post in hand either new or fabbed locally....

interesting, you did not mention anything about corrosion/eroding on the threads, looks more and more like a bad weld. I talked to a hull tech at the Navy Base about welding and learned it is really a lot more than just striking an arc.
Anyway, glad to hear it wasn't as bad as some may have imagined.

Exactly - all the corrosion is localised to the weld area (whats left of it) and the bottom plate and studs are corrosion free...everything points to a bad weld.

Replacement 230 USD from factory - will also get a quote from local shop..

No conversation about product recall due to factory defect? You might want to ask for the contact info of their corporate legal and see if they want to handle it internally and rethink the price? Or you might not. You sell, how would your company handle something that could be a potentially dangerous defect?

A lot of times a company will job out this type of work. With the amount of rust seen, it looks like the wrong type of wire was used plus a bad weld.
That is not a easy weld to do because the welder must pass fast enough so not to cut through the tubing and slow on the plate to burn into the material. From the welds I have seen on tuna towers it takes 2 passes, one for welding a buildup to the tube and the next to join the buildup to the plate. Which takes time & money.

I have not checked this out, but it seems to me the way to take out the compression post is to take off the mast, remove the tabernacle and pull the post out. Maybe not.

R Rae wrote:

We overnighted at the same marina, same slip this year and last, and on both occasions had problems getting to sleep due to a noisy crackling and snapping like burning logs.

I get the same sound even when I'm in Waimea Bay, miles from the harbor. I don't know what it is.

makes me wonder tho....

Seems the weld on the other end of the post (cabin top) would be made with the same wire as the foot........

An inspection of the top weld may show some interesting failure also.(eitherworkmanship or material) With that particular kind erosion.....it looks like a non-stainless wire might have been used.

Gerald - your method above wouldnt work since there are only bolt holes in the deck below the mast step - no whole large enough for the compression post to pull up and out.

Cutting the liner is not a big deal and the repair will be all but invisible.

Gerald,

you reckon y'all got swamp demons over your way too ??

Hello,
Could be that the wire was not of the same alloy as the tube or plate. Since the tabernacle is connected to the compression post and the mast might have a ground connection through the lighting or radio, electrolysis got to the weld.

Update - Ive ordered a new post from the factory

Three people have told me its corrosion from weld and/or incompatible metals...and today...the killer.....

The top metal plate is non-magnetic, the bottom plate is magnetic...