What would be the best way to secure the bracket that holds the spreaders. The screws are loose. Obviously I can tighten them with a screwdriver. I thought of using some sort of a weld bond product on the screws. Would there be a downside to that or is it even necessary?
Loose hardware for spreader
- Thread starter Oldskoolguy
- Start date
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 23,135
Yes. Trying to make them permanent would make it difficult to address repairs when parts fail. If you’re sailing at all then you will experience parts needing to be replaced. Mother Nature is not easy to tame.
Better in your situation might be to use an anti seize product and then proper torque when tightening the screws. You will see some corrosion over time because you have an aluminum mast and stainless screws. The anti seize helps to mitigate the corrosion on the screw threads.
If that is not enough for you, use a product like locktite on the threads. It comes in various strengths. Locktite 243 (blue) is medium and a general purpose product that can still let you remove the screws when needed.
I think I'd drill out the holes in the bracket to the next size up and tap the mast, also one size up. Use larger machine screws, thread them in and tighten it all up. That should suffice.
I was thinking of tapping but being thinner aluminum I didn’t want to really screw it up for a future repair if neccessary
If the current threads are compromised due to age/corrosion/use/whatever and you don't want to go to a larger size threaded fastener - you could just rivet the piece back on using the existing holes. Assuming there is a rivet size clos enough to that hole size.
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