shorefun
Well-Known Member
At my yacht club I have been fixing the booms where the 2 hooks are in the front.
I have 3 or 4 boats now where the bolt came out the front. The aluminum corroded to the point where no material was left forward of the bolt. Some had been like that for a while. Duct tape seems to work for a while it seems.
The fix is easy.
Take the bolt out and the cap.
Make mark with a sharpie for the centerline fore/ aft on the boom. I also mark the top so I dont get lost.
Next, here is the key, use a pipe cutter to cut just behind the old hole or baddly corroded spot of the hole.
File the inside of the pipe to get rid of the bevel the pipe cutter makes. File the face to clear the sharp edge left.
Using the part you just cut off, put the face of the part parallel with the face of the boom and the hole over the line you marked earlier.
Mark the center of the hole back from the new face of the boom.
Center punch the center of where the new hole goes.
Drill out starting with a small drill. I do it in 3 steps. getting to a size a bit larger then the bolt. Larger helps finding the hole when putting the bolt back in the hole.
Put the cap back in the hole. Pay attention to the top of the tube to get things right.
Bolt back together.
You might want to retension the sail at the other end of the booms.
I did notice one of the factory hole sets was not drilled on center.
I have 3 or 4 boats now where the bolt came out the front. The aluminum corroded to the point where no material was left forward of the bolt. Some had been like that for a while. Duct tape seems to work for a while it seems.
The fix is easy.
Take the bolt out and the cap.
Make mark with a sharpie for the centerline fore/ aft on the boom. I also mark the top so I dont get lost.
Next, here is the key, use a pipe cutter to cut just behind the old hole or baddly corroded spot of the hole.
File the inside of the pipe to get rid of the bevel the pipe cutter makes. File the face to clear the sharp edge left.
Using the part you just cut off, put the face of the part parallel with the face of the boom and the hole over the line you marked earlier.
Mark the center of the hole back from the new face of the boom.
Center punch the center of where the new hole goes.
Drill out starting with a small drill. I do it in 3 steps. getting to a size a bit larger then the bolt. Larger helps finding the hole when putting the bolt back in the hole.
Put the cap back in the hole. Pay attention to the top of the tube to get things right.
Bolt back together.
You might want to retension the sail at the other end of the booms.
I did notice one of the factory hole sets was not drilled on center.