"Loose Goose"

connor5002

Member
My the rivets on my gooseneck on my lower spar are holding well but are loose.
Should I drill them out and put new ones in?
Would that be fine with the rules?
-connor:confused:
 
That perfectly ok with the rules.

You might consider thru bolting the two middle holes instead of rivets and never have to worry about the gooseneck coming loose again (it will if you just re-rivet)
 
how the hell do you thru bolt them??? I am interested. I would have thought that thru botling would have been a big job to get the nuts on? or do you go all the way thru to the fwd side and then how does that goe with them crossing one another due to the angle they are at??
 
There are two ways to do it.

Both start out the same - drill out the old rivits, remove the fitting, prep the surface (Clean it and corrosion inhibitor applied)

Method one involves taping the bolt onto a long stick or batten, inserting inside the mast and working it thru the hole.

Method two involves feeding heavy duty thread (you can get a sewing store or from sailmaker) from the outside of the hole into the mast, tip the on end so gravity has the thread fall to the open end as you feed it in. Once the thread is showing at the open end, hot glue or tape it to the bolt, pull the thread back out that you just inserted, pulling the bolt with it.. Take a little patience, but the bolt will come thru the hole. (you can also hot glue or tape a small nail to help make feeding the thread thru the inside of the mast faster at the start of the process.)

For gooseneck, you want a #10 machine screw - 1 to 1.5" long works fine.

More info here
http://www.laserforum.org/showthread.php?t=2902&highlight=bolt
 
If the rivets are loose, you really need to take them out and find the cause. Usually, the rivets themselves wear a bit and become loose.

But.

Almost always, the holes are wallowed out a bit as well and that is not a good thing.

Sometimes, the mast develops tiny cracks between teh rivet holes and the only good way to find those cracks is to take the gooseneck off and have a look.

New rivets cost about fifty cents each. New lowers cost a couple hundred dollars...It doesn't take an Einstein to do the math...

Re riviting will put stress on the mast and increase the liklihood of having cracks.

(Primer: Rivets are secured in place by spreading the shaft behind the hole until that shaft does not fit through the hole. That spreading also stretches the hole and can cause fracturing of the mast tube.)


Using #10 machine screws: Not mentioned above...
If you use a long (40 cm or longer) round headed or truss headed fastener, you can stick the threads out through the holes, grab teh fastener with Vice Grips spin the nut part way down, move the vice grips to the tip and spin the nut to tight. Then cut off the extra fastener length and file it smooth so it will not gouge your fingers or rip your sail.
Absloutely use either a nylon insert lock nut or a (usually harder to find) all stainless steel lock nut.

Fix it. These things don't heal. It will only get worse
 

Back
Top