Spreader Bracket

chemprof

Member
One of the screws on my spreader bracket is stripped.

Anyone using rivets to replace screws?

What sealant and/or anticorrosion material should I use?
 
I would use a rivet. They are a little more firm in my opinion. I think that a normal silicon window sealant might do, but I don't know if there is something a little more hardy. I replaced the mast step on my hobie cat with no problem using rivets and silicon. Let me know what you end up doing. I am curious.
 
Just to let you know, I went with stainless steel rivets. They are very tight and look good. Also replaced the cotter keys on the clevis pins with ring-a-dings.

Some info for those who may want to rivet. Buy the best riveter you can since stainless steel is very hard and brittle. Don't waste your money on a $20 Arrow riveter from Home Depot. I got a Marson 39001 HP2 Professional Riveter Kit, which is very heavy duty and has a strong collet and a hardened fulcrum pin. Wear gloves and eye protection; be ready to provide "tons" of power since you'll be needing 3/16" (3/8" L) rivets.

The spreader bracket also isn't quite perpendicular to the mast, so it gets in the way of the riveter head when setting one of the rivets; it is a tight squeeze, but can be done.

Since I had the screw holes in place (except the stripped one), I put in two screws on diagonal, tightened them to clamp the bracket in perfect alignment. Then drilled the 3/16" holes and placed those two rivets. Then removed one of the two screws, drilled, and placed the 3rd rivet. Repeat for the last rivet.

For anticorrosion, I smeared just a little NOALOX, an anti-oxidant joint compound by Ideal. You can buy it at Home Depot in the electrical department. Other anticorrosion products are out there, but I could not find them readily and I wanted to get this job done.

Thanks again for your input kylehousely.

-- Ed
 

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