How good of a fit?

[2Sheets2Wind]

Neophyte first sail boat owner here. When folding the mast down recently I took notice of the difference in size between the clevis pins and the holes they were in. There is quite a bit of "slop." Didn't see any elongation of holes.

The conservative part of me says there shouldn't be slop in these fittings. Another part of me says hey these stays (forestay and sidestays) are under a lot of tension so no big deal since they are tight all the time.

This is a 43 year old 19 foot day sailer.

I am hoping to learned/experienced opinion here.

Thank you.

Have a Great Day,
Jim

[merc2dogs]

There shouldn't be much difference in size between hole and pin. If the pin is too small you can get heavy point loads, which can lead to accelerated wear and breakage. Ken.

[hellosailor]

Jim, the pins should fit 100%, i.e. with so little clearance around them that they wouldn't fit if you wrapped a layer of tape or sheet of paper on them.

Odds are that someone replaced them with whatever was handy, and a box of assorted new pins (which somehow are always the wrong length) shouldn't cost much. Then, when you drop one over the side, you'll also have a spare in the right size. Which is probably what the last owners didn't have.

Baling wire and chewing gum work...but a box of assorted pins in the right size and matching metal shouldn't cost all that much. They'll also wear better, a smaller pin will elongate the hole faster.

[sailingdog]

The pins really need to be sized to fit the holes properly or they won't bear the load properly.

[knothead]

While I agree with the previous responses, it remains a fact that many boats have been and still are manufactured with mismatched clevis pins and holes. I've even seen it on Island Packets. They make all the chainplates identical with no thought about the wire diameters that they are using.
Just yesterday, I unstepped both masts on a Cheoy Lee 32 that had been standing for thirty some odd years and all the clevis pins for the mizzen rigging were much smaller that the holes in the chainplates. There was a little evidence of point loading but nothing much.
Magregor and others use shackles and Nico-pressed eyes and thimbles to attach the shrouds to the tangs.

In a perfect world, the pins should match. But if the turnbuckles or link plates on your 19 foot daysailer have a 1/4" pin and the chain plates have larger holes, you realisticly don't have much to worry about. Just inspect them regularly and replace the pins if they are beginning to show signs of point loading.
If on the other hand, the holes in the turnbuckles and the chainplates are the same diameter and someone just used the wrong pins, it's a no-brainer. Get the right sized pins.

[tommays]

Both My J24 masts were built with undersize headstay and backstay pins and while i fixed it in 2009 i really saw nothing wrong after being that way going back to 1981 ?

It was just to easy to open up the holes 1/16 so they would take the right pin whan i painted it and found out

[knothead]

Originally Posted by tommays

Both My J24 masts were built with undersize headstay and backstay pins and while i fixed it in 2009 i really saw nothing wrong after being that way going back to 1981 ?

It was just to easy to open up the holes 1/16 so they would take the right pin whan i painted it and found out

1/16" would probably never be a problem, but generally, the best way to rectify the problem is to bush the larger hole rather than drill out the smaller one.

[tommays]

Knothead

Both holes in the mast were undersize the backstay was changed from 1/4 to 5/16 and the headstay from 5/16 to 3/8

Plenty of metal around both to move one side of the hole1/32


Which by the way is how they did some time after 1981

[knothead]

Originally Posted by tommays

Knothead

Both holes in the mast were undersize the backstay was changed from 1/4 to 5/16 and the headstay from 5/16 to 3/8

Plenty of metal around both to move one side of the hole1/32


Which by the way is how they did some time after 1981

I know from reading your posts in the past that you thought of that. I just wanted to mention it for those that may not have.

[hellosailor]

Knowing J/24 sailors....I'll be the pins were the correct size, but some clever cheat drilled out the holes a size larger in order to get rid of weight aloft.

A lot of folks have spend a lot of time doing things to make their J's faster, until the rulebook got revised. :-)