Sunfish Failure Points?

A good suggestion I saw somewhere on this forum is to place a piece of sandpaper on the mast with the abrasive facing out. Carefully rub the cleat base against the sandpaper to make it more perfectly mate with the radius of the mast.

There was also some discussion about fasteners. Apparently the stainless steel screws will galvanically corrode with the aluminum and seize in place. I'm not sure this is a problem, and I think I'm going that route. Never been a big fan of pop rivets and would expect them to work loose.
Would stainless bolts for the rudder assembly be an issue as far as corrosion? I'm thinking more specifically the 4" bolt that lets the rudder pivot...
 
Much of that depends upon whether you're sailing in fresh water or salt, and there's a difference between oxidation, galvanic corrosion, electrolysis, etc. Here's a link to the first site I could find which had some relevant info:

Difference Between Electrolysis and Galvanic Corrosion

You need not worry about any corrosion occurring on a day sail, it's a process which takes time... if you've ever tried to eat metal, you'll know what I mean. Somehow, this reminds me of that guy who used to eat bicycles, tractors, aircraft, etc., haven't heard about him in years, I reckon the poor misguided sod must have died of indigestion, LOL. :confused:
 
A good suggestion I saw somewhere on this forum is to place a piece of sandpaper on the mast with the abrasive facing out. Carefully rub the cleat base against the sandpaper to make it more perfectly mate with the radius of the mast.

There was also some discussion about fasteners. Apparently the stainless steel screws will galvanically corrode with the aluminum and seize in place. I'm not sure this is a problem, and I think I'm going that route. Never been a big fan of pop rivets and would expect them to work loose.

I did exactly this. Using the Intensity Sails cleat with their stainless screw pack. I had to flair out the cleat screw holes just the tiniest bit to get the heads to countersink, but it was trivial.

Drilled the holes, scuffed up the aluminum, applied waterproof Goop to the back of the cleat and medium threadlocker to the stainless screws.
 

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