Replacing Mast Collar

N

nesdog

Member
I notice that the mast collar which joins the upper and lower sections has a crack in it. I know the part is easy enough to buy however I don't own a pop rivet gun. Can I take these to a local boat yard to get this handled? I think the closest Laser dealer is in Santa Barbara, about 75 minutes from here.
 
you can buy a rivet popper gun at any lowes or home depot for around 15 dollars...gently drill the old rivet through...start with a small drill bit...then a wider one until the rivet is out but without making the hole bigger (gentle and nice)...then just replace the part and rivet back together. wear eye protection on the drilling part and certainly on the rivet popping part...some rivet guns can project the rivet shaft quite powerfully.

good luck

Antolin
 
I have the better pop rivet "gun," more like pliers, about $25 I guess, and well worth the money. I can drive stainless steel rivets with it, not an easy task for girl hands with the cheaper riveter.
 
Hmmm, well this becomes problematic...so I can buy a gun for $25 that I don't really have any other use for, or maybe find a local yard that could charge me for sure, but it gets done right the first time!
 
you WILL use that riveter plenty of times in your life...specially around dinghy boats...the drive to the yard and back will be more than 25 dollars...take it from me (a non handy man at all), removing the old rivet is nothing...just gentle patience and a small drill bit to start. obviously it is your call and I wish you well

regards.

Antolin
 
When I decided to replace all the collars, add the boom reiforcing tube and loose rivits...I went to Lowes and bought a $25.00 rivit "gun" (looked more like plyers) and found out how freaking imposible it is to pull a stainless rivit!! It wouldn't hold on ...and when I FINALLY got close ..it broke ! That's when I looked at the package that said it was not made for stainless....only alum.

Somewhere in this very forum, someone much smarter than I said that a cheap but reliable air pnumatic gun could be purchased at harbor freight for around $40.00...so I did. BEST $40.00 I've ever "invested"! I have a super small compressor, made for small brad nailers and it worked GREAT. Harbor freight is usually the last place I buy tools (except maybe an anvil) but I love it.

I understand you will probably not be using stainless ...on this project and alum rivits work great with any rivit gun...but if you have to fasten even ONE stainless it's worth it!

Good Luck

Eric
 
I bought the Marson Big Daddy quite a few years ago and it has done yeoman's duty for me all that time (and it's got a great name too!). It is pricey to start with ($125 at Grainger) but keep in mind you get what you pay for with tools. Also, often times once you buy a tool for one job you start to find all sorts of other uses for it. . .

The cheaper imitations often look alike but don't perform as well. The "plier" type riveters can be tough with stainless. The Marson HP-2, for example, can do 3/16" but many imitations might not.

Here's a bunch of different rivet tools including "The Big Daddy"
 

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Thanks...good info....wait a sec.....is that Steve?



sorosz said:
I bought the Marson Big Daddy quite a few years ago and it has done yeoman's duty for me all that time (and it's got a great name too!). It is pricey to start with ($125 at Grainger) but keep in mind you get what you pay for with tools. Also, often times once you buy a tool for one job you start to find all sorts of other uses for it. . .

The cheaper imitations often look alike but don't perform as well. The "plier" type riveters can be tough with stainless. The Marson HP-2, for example, can do 3/16" but many imitations might not.

Here's a bunch of different rivet tools including "The Big Daddy"
Click to expand...
 
sorosz said:
Sheldon? From the MAC? I was just thinking that login name seemed familiar! Hey, it's a small world.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's me! Noticed your screen name. I had heard from John Nelson who told me that you two had moved up north. How are things going up there?

I picked up an '87 Laser at the beginning of summer and have been mostly sailing in Ventura which is easier and quicker to get to from the Conejo Valley than MDR.

Those days at the MAC were really great, I enjoyed the teaching and everyone's friendship, plus was learning so many interesting things. Too bad you didn't get to do more instructor in-services because I thought those were one of the real benefits of being there. One of the ones I liked was the day we took out the big whaler and you had us take the helm and push the boat up to speed in the ocean to learn about handling the swells. ahhh....the good ole days!

Are you still racing? Say hi to Carla for me.

Sheldon
 
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