Repair Boom Vang

[cosmicwind]

Hi. My Boom Vang came off at the mast last weekend - looks like the poprivets had corroded.

Question is - how do I repair it. Is it a simple matter of getting a rivet gun plus suitable rivets and reusing the current holes ? What rivets should I buy for an aluminium mast ?

Cheers

[Stede]

cosmicwind,

Last year, I had my mainsail modified and moved my boom up about 6 inches on my aluminum mast. When I did,I drilled new holes the same size as the original ones, and used stainless steel pop rivets that were installed using a standard hand rivet tool.Worked great, and I''ve never had any problem.In your case,if the holes are wallowed out,(Southern term)-I would imagine that you''ll need to drill the holes out a little bigger and go with a larger rivet if you are re-attaching to the original point.It the holes are in good shape, you might get by with just replacing the rivets. Good luck!

[cosmicwind]

Thanks - what drill bit should I use to drill the mast ?

[WHOOSH]

Cosmic:

Anything, really - aluminum is very soft.

But then the real questions surface:
1. How to attach? Depending on the nature of the fitting and how its used - in tension and/or sheer - you could be better off with a strong stainless pop rivet vs. a stainless fastener which will lack much thread engagement on the boom wall.
2. How to insulate? Tef-gel still seems like the best choice (which is NOT WM''s Tek-gel product) but there are other good choices, too.

Jack

[tahitisail]

I had a mainsail boom track that was screwed to the mast and over the years the threads had "wallowed" out. I let the mast own and using a long stick with a wrench taped to the end quite easily bolted the track to the mast using the same old holes. This might work for you.