Gooseneck wear

[jakeroyd]

Getting the main off when winterising the boat this year I noticed massive wear in the gooseneck.
The wear is aluminium on aluminium and is where the vertical weight of the boom ( a ZSpars )is taken on the vertical linkpin.
I reckon it's as much as 8mm.
I've fixed it by packing it up with about 10 SS washers , which also means the bearing surfaces are better as well.
The boats 10 years old.
Aluminium on aluminium is a very poor engineering solution.
Of course , even when moored this joint is moving.
Did this also on my prievious boat a Moody 27.
Mind you that was 20 years old.

Anybody else noticed this ?

 

[Dipper]

Anybody else noticed this ?

My gooseneck is worn where the vertical pin fits through the hole in the boom. It's an IYE mast (International Yacht Equipment) so quite old.

The problem came up in my last insurance survey so I will try to repair it this year. My first attempt to remove the fitting failed because the stainless steel screws have welded themselves to the mast.

 

[Billjratt]

When moored the boom shouldn't be left to waggle around even if an extra lanyard has to be used to balance the sheet.
When sailing the wear is up the way due to high luff tension.
Which way is your worn? Put shims/thrustwashers on both sides of the pin if there's still enough alloy left.
It sounds as though there should have been washers there originally which may have been lost, causing extra wear.

 

[affinite]

I just turned mine over - should have another 10 years now

 

[Neil_Y]

Thats why we supply Maritex aquarius 1-50 bearings to nordic mast.

This is an area of yachts that has seen no real development in years, and the metal to metal bearings are noisy even if they don't fail that often. It is only recently that there have been bearing materials that are happy to run dry in tropical temperatures under the very high loads that goose necks and kickers run at Spar manufacturers are slowly changing their ideas on this.

It will take a few years but having a bearing that can be replaced in the goose neck fittings will eventually become a standard set up, until then keep an eye on it. On ocean crossings the wear can be noticable.

 

[William_H]

Gooseneck

I replaced my gooseneck which was an off the shelf dinghy style with all stainless steel fabrricated from SS strap about 3mm thick and 30mm wide. no problem since.

A high load on the boom vang will put a lot of pressure on the gooseneck.

Re wear when on mooring I found that the traveller car after many years wore out. This because the boom inevitably swung in any boat wash. It could have added to the gooseneck wear as well. Now I remove the topping lift and lay the boom on the cabin top when leaving the boat. It slots in between 2 winches. There is no movement so no wear. good luck olewill

 

[vyv_cox]

The fixed and moving vertical parts of the gooseneck on my Selden mast/boom wore badly on the horizontal faces and the vertical pin bearings. I have drilled out the bearings and bushed them with plastic water pipe, slit lengthways to allow them to fit. I made a few washers from a polyethylene bottle for the horizontal faces. After one full season there is no detectable wear, noise in service has ceased and boom action is far smoother.

 

[jeremyshaw]

We have a ZSpars gooseneck and have had significant wear on a 10yr old boat (Transat, extensive cruising). I have now changed it as a precaution, particularly as we have another transat planned.

The main wear though was in the cheeks, which I think came mainly on our transat when the winds were variable. I think that tying reefing lines to the bottom centre of the boom meant that we twisted the boom which stressed and chafed the neck fitting. Took me ages to realise this and I have only recently taken to tying the pennants right round the mast, as I believe is favoured by the racing fraternity. Doesn't look as neat, but places the load better.

Curiously we have not had the kind of wear you are experiencing (but I am big on locking the boom). I also use nylon washers as a separator which might be worth considering as an alternative to s/s for obvious reasons.

 

[Ruffles]

I suspect that 99% of the wear will be the boom flopping about when not in use.

Now when leaving the boat I always slacken the mainsheet, take a sail tie from the boom diagonally across to a cleat and re-tighten the mainsheet.

 

[Heckler]

Getting the main off when winterising the boat this year I noticed massive wear in the gooseneck.
The wear is aluminium on aluminium and is where the vertical weight of the boom ( a ZSpars )is taken on the vertical linkpin.
I reckon it's as much as 8mm.
I've fixed it by packing it up with about 10 SS washers , which also means the bearing surfaces are better as well.
The boats 10 years old.
Aluminium on aluminium is a very poor engineering solution.
Of course , even when moored this joint is moving.
Did this also on my prievious boat a Moody 27.
Mind you that was 20 years old.

Anybody else noticed this ?

I changed mine last year, the bits are as cheap as chips, £18 for the vertical casting, cheap enough to change every couple of years, It should hjave washers in there and i always lube mine once a year.
Stu