I'm trying to find Monel pop rivets to fit a Barton track on the mast of my MacGregor 26X, to take my spinnaker pole ring. The track is 10mm depth, with the mast a little less, and with 6.4mm (1/4 of man inch in old money) size rivets, the longest I can find are 19mm (yes, that's 3/4 of an inch). Unless there is a fancy tool to help fit nuts on the ends of bolts way up inside the mast, I'm out of ideas. HELP! Please!
Fitting a track for the spinnaker pole ring.
- Thread starter rmduthie
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Drill and tap and use short S.S. machine screws. You can get everything you need at most hardware stores except the TefGel you should use on the screw threads.
Dissimilar metals.
I did wonder about trying that, but didn't want to create more problems than I solved! I guess the TefGel is to avoid electrolysis between the SS and Aluminium? Bad enough that I need a barrier between the track and mast. All part of the fun of messing about in boats. My better half is taxing me with how little use I have had of the Parasailor2 I bought...
Roy Duthie
Many thanks for that Roger.
I did wonder about trying that, but didn't want to create more problems than I solved! I guess the TefGel is to avoid electrolysis between the SS and Aluminium? Bad enough that I need a barrier between the track and mast. All part of the fun of messing about in boats. My better half is taxing me with how little use I have had of the Parasailor2 I bought...
Roy Duthie
I agree with Roger. I did this upgrade on my boat this year and drill and tap worked well. Just make sure you center punch with an awl an indentation in the mast so your drill bit doesn't walk on you. That was the hardest part in my upgrade.
I used the 3/4" rivets, but I turned the heads in a lathe to countersink them into the holes on the track. The ring won't slide past rivets that protrude past the surface of the track. Couldn't find 1/4" countersunk rivets for some reason. The wall thickness seemed a bit thin to tap on mine. Tim
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