Fastener Advice Please for Rigid Vang . . .

[Clark]

I'm seriously considering the Garhauer rigid vang to replace the soft vang on my H280. My question is about the selection of fasteners. I've researched rivnuts and am thinking about those as an option to drill/tap. Large rivets are probably out; the installation tools are too much $$ (?).Any input/advice?

 

[jimq26]

Suggestion - BoomKicker from the chandlery here.

All the required tools and fasteners are included in the kit.

 

[joe daly]

fastners

Last weekend - I finally got to installing My garhaurer riged vang ( it's only been on my V'berth shelf for 3 season's but other projects took precedent). Anyway,drilled & taped ss 1/4 20 3/4" screws. Lightly snugged for fit and then backed out and put a dab of lexel before final set. Looks great and a very nice piece of hardware. Ran new cabin top blocks to feed line to helmn.  Drill & tap is a very secure way to go. The aluminum mast is easy on thebits. Regards, Joe s/v trinity

 

[Robert Gainer]

I am not familiar with lexel

Sorry Joe, but I am not familiar with lexel. Is that a thread lock type of material?Thanks and all the best,Robert Gainer

 

[Allan R]

Boomkicker

I installed a Boomkicker on a Catalina 270 I had a number of years back and was very satisfied with it. Installation was simple, only required drilling 2 holes in the boom, if I recall, I drilled and tapped.Course it's your boat and your decision what you ultimately use (ridgid vang or otherwise).

 

[shorty]

drill & tap

Installed the Garhauer last year on my Pearson 34. Drill & tap is easy, just be gentle because the aluminum is so soft, snug the bolts, don't torque hard, use the tefgel. Great piece of hardware

 

[Dick Westwood]

Rivets work

When I installed mine, 3 seasons ago, I found that I couldn't get a really good bite on the boom with machine screws. Perhaps the aluminum was too thin.I ended up riveting it – pop rivets. I don't remember the tool as being especially expensive - perhaps $30. The rivets have held up fine through 3 seasons of heavy use.By the way: the Garhauer rigid vang itself is great. A piece of equipment I'd recommend to anyone. (Well, anyone with a sailboat that is.)

 

[Joe]

garhaurer

Clark... don't use rivets. Call mark or guido at Garhaurer if you have installation questions. Everyone in this forum whose ever dealt with them will support me in my praise of the staff.Here's a tip or two: 1) purchase a small tap and die set at home depot, look on the chart to determine the correct size drill bit and only buy that. All this will be less than 25 bucks. 2) don't use rivets... Aluminum rivets will corrode fairly quickly, stainless steel that size require a high quality rivet gun and are very difficult to remove without damaging the boom. Besides... it looks cheap (sorry Dick W) 3) mount the lower bracket first, then set the boom bracket according to Garhaurer's advice. 4) put a layer of plastic electricians tape on the inside of the SS bracket to isolate them from the aluminum spars, coat the bolts with anti-corrosive gel of your choice. 5) when bolting on the brackets, especially the one on the boom, get all of the bolts started first before you start tightening.

 

[Ross]

Rivet nuts are made in aluminum and

stainless steel. They put a full diameter length of thread in the hole. I don't know what size fasteners you need but when you buy a 10-32 machine screw the "10" refers to the diameter of the screw and the "32" refers to the number of threads per inch. Thus a 1/4-20 bolt will have a 1/4 inch diameter and 20 threads per inch. For the smaller sizes of fasteners simply drilling and tapping the mast will work but for larger fasteners you won't have enough thickness to prevent stripping the threads in the hole. McMaster Carr sells a rivet nut installation tool that is reasonably priced, see page 3189 in their on line catalog. If you choose to just drill and tap the mast and later it does strip out then you can use the rivet-nuts to make a quality repair.

 

[Timo42]

If you are only doing a couple

of rivnuts, you don't need a tool at all to install them. You use a bolt that fits the rivnut that is about 3/4 inch longer than the rivnut, a nut 1 size larger than the bolt (so that it spins freely on the shank of the bolt, and a star washer the size of the bolt. You put the oversize nut on the bolt, then the star washer, then put the rivnut on fingertight, install into hole, hold the oversize nut with a wrench and tighten the bolt until it gets hard to turn, which will set the rivnut in the hole. Remove the bolt and check to make sure that the threaded part of the rivnut is tight against the back of the hole and you are done. Tim

 

[shorty]

Milk bottle

A great piece of advice from Mark @ Garhauer was to cut a gasket from a plastic milk bottle instead of the built up electric tape. Less messy. Also, can buy single good quality tap & drill from McMaster Carr. The $25 sets (I have one) from Harbor Freight & the like are pretty cheap stuff, good to have for misc. & emergencies.One thing that is really surprising about Garhauer is that they do not have printed installation instructions. The advice is to call Mark. He must get awful tired of that.