BobnLesley
Well-Known Member
I Had great result today: Glanced into a Chandlery's Bargain-Bin and spotted a gooseneck fitting that was exactly the same size as ours, discounting the excessive wear & slop that ours has acquired over the years - it's very 'tired' - for the bargain price of US$20. I bought it, went back to the boat to see about fitting it and noticed that there's a little more wear wear in the mast-bracket that it fits into than I'd thought; it's nowhere near as badly worn as the gooseneck itself and I could fairly easily grind/file if square/free of rough-edges and still retain adequate strength in it, then shim-up the play to suit the new gooseneck.
However, my $20 also bought me a brand new new mast-bracket too, though that unfortunately, doesn't precisely match our mast's profile: With the centre flush against the sail-track groove (so the two bolts and track-slugs would fit perfectly, the two edges where the lines of three rivets would go, stands perhaps 3 or 4mm away from the face of the mast. I don't fancy the idea of just cranking-up the rivets and perhaps deforming the mast, but is it feasible to shim-up that gap with small washers? or better still is there perhaps some semi-compressible plastic sheet I could put between the mast and bracket to marry-up the two?
However, my $20 also bought me a brand new new mast-bracket too, though that unfortunately, doesn't precisely match our mast's profile: With the centre flush against the sail-track groove (so the two bolts and track-slugs would fit perfectly, the two edges where the lines of three rivets would go, stands perhaps 3 or 4mm away from the face of the mast. I don't fancy the idea of just cranking-up the rivets and perhaps deforming the mast, but is it feasible to shim-up that gap with small washers? or better still is there perhaps some semi-compressible plastic sheet I could put between the mast and bracket to marry-up the two?
