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PostPosted: Sun Feb 20, 2011 10:10 am 
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Joined: Sat Oct 24, 2009 4:47 am
Posts: 28
Location: Plymouth, UK
One of the cleats has pulled out of the mast and there are two nasty holes to fill before I replace it. What do you think I should patch it up with? Was thinking about riveting a small alu plate over it but somehow drilling four new holes doesn't seem right. Epoxy?

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 20, 2011 10:55 am 
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Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2003 7:11 pm
Posts: 5197
Location: Detroit, MI
Any repair you're going to do will be cosmetic and really only needs to seal the mast up watertight again.

Use a Dremel tool to clean off the corrosion, then (very) thickened black-tinted epoxy to cover them up.

An epoxy putty stick would work well here, but probably wouldn't color match too well. You can always cover it with black tape.

Given the amount of corrosion, I suspect you may have other mast issues in your future.


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 20, 2011 11:30 am 
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Location: Plymouth, UK
Thanks for the advice. The cleat that had broken was a white plastic one, which didn't look like an original fitting. I'm hoping that it was something to do with the way it was fitted which has caused the corrosion. To fit the replacement, would you suggest aluminium rivets, stainless self tapping screws or something else?


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 20, 2011 11:45 am 
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Location: Detroit, MI
findbluesky wrote:
Thanks for the advice. The cleat that had broken was a white plastic one, which didn't look like an original fitting. I'm hoping that it was something to do with the way it was fitted which has caused the corrosion. To fit the replacement, would you suggest aluminium rivets, stainless self tapping screws or something else?

Something else. Monel pop rivets.

The reason the old one corroded out is the proximity of two different metals - stainless steel and aluminum - which in the presence of salt water makes a battery. The aluminum loses.

If you sail in salt water, you need to rinse the boat (all of it) with fresh water regularly to get rid of the electrolyte (salt water).

My suspicion is that that mast leaked, trapping salt water inside. Very bad in the long term. That's why I think you're going to have other problems - the worst of which is going to be a mast base that comes off when you're stepping the mast.

While it's tempting to go back with aluminum pop rivets, they aren't strong enough. Monel is less reactive than stainless steel, but more expensive.


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PostPosted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 12:00 pm 
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Joined: Thu Mar 24, 2011 3:18 pm
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It doesn't matter what you do as long as your patch is waterproof because once water gets in the mast it will make righting your boat that much more difficult


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