Anyone got one of these collecting dust in their garage?
Sentimental oldtimer trying to to keep his old Mistral Maui going....
Stan
Have you tried just changing the rubber joint? We have them in stock if you have trouble finding supplies locally. Else I have 2 boxes of old parts, but you are better off changing to a new one. We also have the new non-rubber mechanical joints you might want to consider too.
Thanks for the suggestion SurfConnect
I've seen what you're describing but they just have a threaded hole each end.
this joint has a particular notched pin fixed in each end - They are fixed in permanently -
or rather- i cant get them out. If I cant find an old spare I will have to turn the pin
myself on a threaded bolt - I was just hoping to find one.....
Hello, Stan,
I’ve seen these joints earlier in my career, but can’t remember their exact construction. However, I think that boards of that vintage would have used rubber directly moulded to the steel.
As a suggestion, get a hacksaw and hold the bad end of the rubber in a vice, whilst carefully hacking through the good end of the rubber until you get to the steel core. Remove as much rubber as necessary. You should be able to see if the rubber is moulded around the steel or whether the rubber is moulded around a steel female nut, into which a steel male is threaded.
If the rubber is moulded direct to the steel, you will not be able to recondition the UJ, only replace it (as you suspect).
If the rubber is moulded to a female nut, you might be able to unscrew the male from the female, using something like WD 40 and it will probably take considerable time and effort to break the parts free. As SurfConnect says, the latest style uses rubber moulded around a female nut, into which a male shaft is Loctited and screwed.
Hope this helps.
Stan,go to an engineering shop or School and get a new one made up to fit a new rubber joint. Cost about $20 Aus
Check the mast track - some of the Mistral units had two holes. One hole takes the special Mistral pin, but the other one is a simple threaded hole that will take the screw in the bottom of a standard uni. It's not exactly as easy as using the Mistral unit, but not much harder.
The Maui's a fun board. From memory it was never designed to go really fast, just to be nice to sail. It's not just for nostalgia.
These pins will unscrew. They are held in with Loctite, you will have to heat the pins a little with a blow torch to brake the Loctite seal. Use vice and multi grips. Boge rubber joint.
Chris, this era of Mistral mast track 1983 - 1987 has no option for a separate tread.
AUS4 - I will give heating it a go.
It would great if i could get the pins out
and just screw them into a new UJ!
Thanks again for the additional suggestions guys.
Stan
All sorted! I got a new threaded rubber UJ and turned a couple of
stainless steel bolts to match the pins in the original part and super-glued them in.
Also I made a threaded aluminium nut that fits into the old ali mast track so if
I want I can put a brand new mast foot on the old board.
Thanks for all your suggestions - they got me out of thinking I had to find an original part. Now I can carry on using the board either with the old rig or a new one.
Spoilt for choice!
Stan.
Hello, Stan,
Glad that you got out of the problem, but as a suggestion, don't use the aluminium nut, because it will not take much load before the thread strips. Suggest you make another one out of steel.
You might consider that no board manufacturer uses aluminium for the nut, only steel, so ther must be a reason for it.
Hope this helps.