john
Well-Known Member
Have a look at my picture and you'll see there are some holes in the mast left by a previous owner that I would like to fill or cover - how could this be done ?
John
John
How to fix holes left in mast
- Thread starter john
- Start date
knuterikt
Well-Known Member
My rigger told me to put pop rivets in the empty holes, that is sufficient to maintain strength.
Use monel rivets and a jointing compound like Duralac to isolate dissimilar metals.
Alternative is to get a cover plate made - but that is more of a cosmetic thing.
VicS
Well-Known Member
Is it in part of the track that the sail slugs will have to pass along ?
If not an aluminium plate fastened over them all will look the neatest IMO. It would be better if the aluminium could be anodised but that's probably not realistic.
( I've done it ... but with access to some basic chemistry lab facilities )
Stainless steel rather than aluminium if you can obtain a little off-cut and bed it on Duralac
If you put pop rivets in the holes the heads will over-sail the edges of the track I suspect.
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Boathook
Well-Known Member
Pop rivets only. A plate may look good but is difficult to do neatly.
charles_reed
Well-Known Member
Use alloy pop rivets - they are after all just filling holes.
Much cheaper, much easier to pull up and, finally, much easier to file out of the way of the track.
No need to use Duralac (that would cost more than the rivets) it's the same metal.
There are, it appears, a number of sado-masochists on this board ;-)
Much cheaper, much easier to pull up and, finally, much easier to file out of the way of the track.
No need to use Duralac (that would cost more than the rivets) it's the same metal.
There are, it appears, a number of sado-masochists on this board ;-)
prv
Well-Known Member
Surely if you put pop-rivets in those holes the tails of them will snag the sail slides?
Pete
Pete
sailorman
Well-Known Member
if the holes were from a gooseneck fitting ( as looks to be the case ) that would have been affixed with rivets.
i fail to see how filling with a rivet will add any strength.
nimbusgb
Well-Known Member
Surely the very best solution would be to ali weld them closed, dress them and perhaps locally alodine treat the local area?
A skilled ali welder could fill those in a couple of minutes.
A skilled ali welder could fill those in a couple of minutes.
TiggerToo
Well-Known Member
leave them alone
greenalien
Well-Known Member
If you take charles_reed's advice and use alloy pop-rivets, make sure you punch out the remains of the steel mandrels, or you will just be giving yourself a new corrosion headache. Monel rivets are harder to fit and cost more, but the mandrels are stainless steel, and won't subsequently corrode.
DanTribe
Well-Known Member
I had lots of holes left in my mast after I removed a behind the mast roller reefing system.
Selden's advice was to fill the holes with rivets if you want to. It won't make any difference to the strength but will look neater. The mast is much stronger than it needs to be anyway. They recommended using Duralac, doesn't cost much for a small tube.
I queried the possibility of stress induced cracking starting from the holes but they assured me there was no problems.
BTW why have you removed the gooseneck?
Selden's advice was to fill the holes with rivets if you want to. It won't make any difference to the strength but will look neater. The mast is much stronger than it needs to be anyway. They recommended using Duralac, doesn't cost much for a small tube.
I queried the possibility of stress induced cracking starting from the holes but they assured me there was no problems.
BTW why have you removed the gooseneck?
LittleSister
Well-Known Member
You could just fill them with a waterproof filler of a suitably neutral colour. The holes will still be visible, but less eye catching. Epoxy would be OK, but pretty much anything as its got no structural function.
