Jeff,
I am always of the opinion that 'stronger is better' - an occupational
hazard of being an engineer. If there is still room in the inner bracket
(your setup is different than mine so I'm not sure), I would encourage you
to drill and tap larger holes and keep with four bolts. If not, consider
either (a) doing away with the inner bracket altogether and tapping the
mast itself, or (b) go with a downhaul arrangement where the bracket is
allowed to slide in the track but is held in place with a downhaul from the
base of the mast or a cleat in the track.
When tapping holes, it is very important that you drill the right sized
hole and use a lubricant. Also, make sure that you drill the hole
perpendicular to the surface and start the tap the same. For the proper
drill bit size for taps, see
http://www.boltdepot.com/fastener-information/US-Tap-Drill-Size.aspx (they
also have a metric table). For lubricant, I use a high-tech product that
works very well - bacon grease.
Hope that helps!
Chris
At 05:12 PM 5/13/2006, you wrote:
OK, so I decided to raise the boom about 7 inches on the mast to allow
more headroom in the cockpit and possibly make room for a bimini some day.
(I have 10 to 12 inches leeway at the top of the mast when the mainsail is
fully raised.) I disconnected the boom by pulling the pin at the
gooseneck, and with some difficulty removed four bolts that fasten the
bracket to the mast. In the process, I stripped one bolt and had to drill
it out, which also ruined the threads on the receiving end of the bracket.
(The bolts screw into the bracket and pass on through holes drilled into
the mast, which also have a slight thread.) I drilled new holes into the
mast at the new location 7 inches up and tried to cut new threads in the
ruined hole in the bracket, but failed. (My threading tool broke off in
the hole. Did I mention I'm not real handy?) Next, I ruined another hole
when a second bolt got jammed and the head stripped, and I had to drill IT
out. (I remained remarkably cool through all of this.)
So let's summarize: I now have two working bolts out of four holding the
connecting bracket to the mast at the new location. The good news is the
two working bolts are the topmost and bottommost bolts. And the connection
set-up consists of an outer bracket through which the bolts pass and an
inner bracket with threads that sits in the sail track. When the bolts are
tightened the two brackets are pressed together pinching against the lip
of the sail track. The fact that the bolts pass on through both brackets
into the mast itself also gives added adhesion, at least as far as
vertical movement is concerned.
SO MY QUESTION IS.... am I screwed having only two bolts holding the
gooseneck connection brackets to the mast? Isn't most of the pressure at
that point vertical pressure? If so, it seems that two bolts might be
sufficient. If not, and if I need to have four bolts securing it, it seems
that my options are: 1) re-drilling and re-threading the two bad holes
(remember my track record on that is not good), or getting a new inner
connecting bracket (the one that goes inside the track, with threads). If
that's what I must do, does anyone know where I can get one? (Mine is an
89 C27 Tall Rig).
Sorry for the long post, and thanks for any helpful suggestions anyone
might care to offer.
Jeff Sheler
s/v Windsome
C27TR #6594
Hampton, VA
