OK, I'll admit it. I bent my mast. Not a gentle bend, or a slight curve, but a good, solid sharp angled bend, with a sever crease in it. A gust of wind took it from me as I was taking the mast down, and instead of going aft it went forward, and the pulpit acted as a fine stop. And creaser. Now I'm going to order a mast extrusion from Dwyer, and I've started to unbolt the existing hardware, but have a minor problem. I assume that I should use stainless fasteners to reattach the pieces, but the spreader bases are held to the mast with machine screws that are 3 1/4 " long, and the longest ones that I can come up with are only 3". Should I consider using galvanized, or is there a source that I can find longer ones? Thomas Howe Mailto:Thomas@TEHowe.com O --------(\ ---------- ~ (\ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ (\ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~