Gooseneck Corrosion

[DRM]

I found the screws on one side on my gooseneck going into the mast have pulled out a quarter on an inch. I tried to tighten them and they are stripped out. The screws on the other side are tight. White power on the threads looks like corrosion. I have not removed the gooseneck yet. The boat is a freshwater 1983. Any advice on the best way to repair the screw threads?

[jones2r]

Your problem may be due to dissimilar metals: galvanic. If the screws are steel, they need to be coated with an insulating compound when installed. Going oversize is a simple solution. Others who have also experienced your problem may be able to offer alternatives.

[Giulietta]

If the holes are not too big, the new thread might go bad in near future, because galvanic corrosion will resatrt with new screws.

If this is the case, you can rivet with those big aluminum rivets, and corrosion stops.

A friend once had that problem, and had to remove the mast, and insert a backing plate inside, then riveted it. He used alum rivets to decrease the galvanic corrosion. He also sparyed anti corrosion zinc oxide (from airplanes).

The mast was a selden, and the inside plate was easily made locally.

Hope It helps

[sailingdog]

Lanocote, tefgel, anhydrous lanolin all work pretty well as anti-corrosion barriers pastes.

[spin1012]

Thanks for comments regarding my problem with the gooseneck. I solved the frozen gooseneck by very gently tapping with a hammer on the boom end. Before I tried the hammer I had sprayed several different lubricants, WD 40, teflon, etc to try to free it with no result. Perhaps these sprays helped with the release of the gooseneck, but it was really the hammer tapping that did the trick. It is very important to be very gentle with the tapping as otherwise damage could result.

Spin1012