Mast spreader issues

[Mougly]

Hello all

I was told by a service man that I will need to replace the spacers between the spreaders and the mast, the spreaders are attached with a through bolt in addition to four rivets on each bracket, unfortunetely I do not have a a rivet gun for the size of rivets used would it be a good idea to thread the holes on the mast and use stainless screws instead?

Also is there anything I need to know before taking the spreaders off and reinstalling them?

Any info would be great

Cheers

 

[Joseph Shirley]

Hi there Mougly, I think your post kind of got overlooked. You could replace with rivets or tap and screws. If you don't have a large enough rivet gun you could rent one.

Anyway, It is not a usual thing to replace (Spacers) or spreader brackets on the mast, without having some unusual problem with them. What's the problem?

Spreaders are mostly a compression column with a slight downward force at the mast if the spreaders angle up to bisect the angle of the shrouds. So unless someone goes aloft and stands on them, they (the mast brackets) are under loaded. Basically they just hold the spreader end into the mast.

Oh well

Have fun

Joe S

 

[Mougly]

Thank you for the reply

The previous owner had replaced the spacers (some type of hard plastic) at some point, and the plastic was starting to chip and crack therefore since I had the mast down already I had thought to replace them with new ones, I also used special rivets which mount onto the mast and are threaded on the inside, that way I can just use new screws.

 

[Joseph Shirley]

Wow, I've never known them to be made of plastic. I guess I can understand why you want to replace them. Obviously to be made out of plastic they don't see a lot of vertical load, but the spreader has to be able to transmit the spreader's compressive load to the mast.

Good luck

Joe S

 

[Mougly]

So I've made the spacers out of hardened cutting board type material, as per the directions of the service man, installed the spreaders and finally stepped the mast...
All went well this time and I even went out for a sail on the bay...all seams fine.

Cheers