Repairing bent pintle

RogerMusser

Member
I could not find any old posts explaining how to straighten bent pintles.
Can this be done?
Our sail club has a small collection of bent sunfish pintles, all bent near the top (as it sits on the stern).
Some are just slightly bent, others more noticeably.

Anyone with any experience straightening these?
 
About all you can do is to chuck then in a vice and gently try to tap them back to true with a small hammer. You may end up breaking one or two of them if the steel is fatigued at the point of the bend. Use a plastic hammer if you have one or a small ball peen hammer if you don't.

Good luck.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 
Pintles bend only once. :(

(but good luck anyway)...;)

Seek out a metals shop at a high school.

High heat may give it a second life. If successful, keep a tether attached to the rudder! :confused:

Member Roller knows metals. Contact him through this forum's "Conversation" feature.
 
I have pintle pins from three 1980's era boats: Sunfish, Minifish, and Force 5. From appearance, hardness, and non-magnetic quality, these pins are almost certainly 300-series stainless steel (likely 304 or 316).
• 300-series SS is relatively malleable - you can probably straighten a pintle pin by carefully hammering it straight on the face of an anvil or thick steel plate (careful around the thin retention groves).
• 300 series rod can be bent with relative ease if heated to dark red (700°C/1300°F). You can probably heat a Sunfish pintle pin this hot with a small propane or MAPP torch. If coldbending doesn't work, heat it up and (gently) hammer it straight!
 

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