Need New Spreader Bracket and Spreader for 1982 H25

[Colby D]

I just bought my first sailboat, which is a 1982 Hunter 25, and I need to get a new spreader and spreader bracket but I'm having trouble knowing where to find new ones. The spreader is broken and the bracket is deformed. I've attached pictures of the bracket. I can't find any that match it online, though I'm probably not looking in all the places I should be. I'm sure I'm not the first person to need new ones. Any ideas where I could find one? Am I even using the right term to describe the part?

The spreader and bracket on the other side of the mast is fine, but I'd be open to replacing it if I need to convert it to a different setup. It should be easy enough to drill the rivets and remount them if I could find replacement parts.

 

[Colby D]

BTW - I've been on Rig Rite but I can't figure out who made the mast so I'm struggling to know if any of those replacement parts would work.

 

[DianaOfBurlington]

The H25 ‘teardrop’ mast section is a Kenton 3625. This has been out of production since the mid-1980s. There are no new parts available and, if Rig Rite say they have them, it’s either old stock or they’re recycling parts from junked boats.

I have often thought of replacing the whole spar but mine is in very good condition so it’s not yet time for that. The best place where I’d get replacement parts is Dwyer Mast (DAMCo) in Connecticut. They are very nice people to deal with. You will find their online catalogue very easy to deal with too.

DAMCo make a good spreader and bracket that will work well for the H25. It’s an ‘airfoil’ type, very good-looking. It would require you to remove the ones you have, fill the holes in the mast using aluminum screws, and install the new brackets. This is not hard to do and the parts are not expensive. The best part is that you’ll have a system for which parts remain available.

I used the DAMCo shroud tangs and the double-halyard masthead sheave box on Diana. It’s all been a real shot in the arm towards modernizing and revitalizing a 40-odd-year-old rig.

I can offer photos about what I did to the rig on Diana. Much of it was actually pretty high-level tech and yet pretty easy to actually do, given the right know-how. The mast, especially in the spreader-attachment area, is like 200% better, stiffer and stronger, than it was when the factory made it.

Your other option is to search on eBay for old parts. This isn’t hard to do either. Pay attention to the dimensions and note that these are NOT stanchion bases. For example I have one but it’s too small for your round spreaders.

It might be possible but I wouldn’t recommend buying aluminum tubing stock and making your own. The dimensions of the tubing used are not the same as what you buy through any retail outlets. And it’s not an area in which guessing produces good results.

 

[David in Sandusky]

What John said above.

 

[DianaOfBurlington]

The spreader brackets being pop-riveted on is a good way to hide several nightmares. When I re-built Diana I took them both off and found a wonderful ecosystem of corrosion.

This got sanded gently and primed in epoxy primer before painting the whole spar. The brackets did get put back with pop rivets, but not before I installed a compression tube.

The compression tube spans the internal width of the spar so that when through-bolts are tightened the tube itself won’t crush. These were not installed upon original manufacturer (and should have been, as on all boats with a hollow spar) but at this stage absolutely should be retrofitted.

I made one of the through-bolt spreader pin holes large enough for an aluminum tube, like 3/8” ID and 1/2” OD. The tube bottoms out against the inside of the spar and presses there, providing a stop to the compressive effect of tightening the through-bolt. It can also pass right through two enlarged holes and get cut off flush with the spar surface.

Also to insulate the stainless-steel fitting from the aluminum spar (the contact between which caused the corrosion), I applied white rigging tape to the backside of the fittings. I advise doing this with ALL spar-mounted hardware if you don’t have a proper Delrin backing plate. Also use all-aluminum pop-rivets - not stainless - so that you’ll see them corroding upon your next 25 years of inspections. If you use stainless pop-rivets you won’t be able to watch the mast corrode behind the fittings. And any other metal will add to the ‘corrosion ecosystem’.

Remember the load on the spreader brackets is wanting to squeeze together and to crush the spar here, at the number-one location for mast failure. And you have a 40-year-old mast for which there is no direct replacement. The compression tube will bear the load in compression (in which a tube is very good) and spare the spar itself, essentially negating the potential.

I’m typing this on the phone but, if you need me to, I can post or send photos from the computer.