Mainsail Tack Retaining Hardware

Bill Ewing

New Member
On my mod1's gooseneck, there is a threaded hole (1/4-20) for what would be some kind of bolt to retain the grommet at the forward/bottom corner of the mainsail.

Across from the threaded hole is a larger, unthreaded hole. Clearly, the intention seems to be that a threaded pin is used to retain the clew.

The problems/questions I have are:

1. If a bolt is to be used, isn't it strange that Catalina would not make the gooseneck surface flat (i.e. perpendicular to the hole?)

2. Is a threaded bolt what everyone else uses?

3. Is a threaded bolt really a secure way to do this? Couldn't it work its way loose while in use? Wouldn't a clevis pin with a cotter ring be better? Besides, the bolt requires one to have a wrench handy.

4. The threads seem jammed up. I may retap them. Has anyone else had this problem?

5. I'm thinking, however, about drilling out the threads and using a clevis pin instead, but hate to make unreversible mods. Has anyone else done this?

6. I wonder if Catalina changed the design in later boats?

Thanks in advance for all opinions and advice.
 
mainsail tack to gooseneck

My Mod II has a small screw that is bent at about 45 degrees so that you can easily turn to tighten or loosen. So yes, it's designed to use a small screw/bolt as you describe.

I doubt that there will be much of a tendency to work loose under sail.

Many boats use a simple clevis pin or other arrangement to "pin" the tack of the sail to the boom, so I think you could certainly make modifications to support this type of set-up. However, my experience is not with a Capri 14 so I certainly defer to any of the guys with specific knowledge to this boat. Although, I don't see how you could go wrong with using the clevis pin approach as long as you don't end up with holes so large that it weakens the gooseneck fitting. But, if you destroy the boom, well, it's only money!
 
bolt

I have mod 3 and it has the bolt with the angle as others have described. I am new to sailing, but I can say that I have had no problem with it working loose in the 2 years I have been sailing.
Russell Lloyd
Memphis-4796
 
Tack pin

The standard tack pin is the one with a 45 deg. angle. It can be tightened by hand and I've never had one come loose. But I have seen them freeze up on boats used in salt water and left unused for many months. Catalina part number is J30098.
 

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