Sailing on Sunday in 20 knots, noticed that starboard jib track is raising from the hull when jib is sheeted on that side. On shore found that 10 rivets, holding it, all ripped off from the hull and moving up and down with the track, so aluminum trampoline sleeve alone is taking all the load and started to bend. Obviously needs to be fixed ASAP.
Here is the picture. As long as the holes in the hull are not holding the rivets anymore I think another jib track on the internal side of the hull is needed. Or aluminum stripe, drilled to match the rivet holes. The question is how to get there. I thought about 2 ways to do it. First, lift the deck, - there was an article about that: http://www.thebeachcats.com/index.php?module=pictures&g2_itemId=22767.
The other way is to install 5 inch access port about 3 inch behind the daggerboard well. Afraid standard 4 inch port could be too small to do the job. I never did this before and wonder what kind of port I should use, flat or surved.

Any suggestions? Anybody did similar repair?

Andre
Nacra 5.5SL

Murrays has a rivet casing. You drill out the old rivet and enlarge the hole to the size specified. Put the casing on the rivet and install. It was made for water proofing but also works for "stripped" rivet holes. You can also drill holes in the track between the hole that are there and add more rivets. I had to do this on the rear of the tramp track on my 5.8.
http://www.murrays.com/mm…e=19-5020&Category_Code=

Andre,
Welcome to the Beachcats.com

Steve,
Thanks for the nice idea. Sounds like a lot smaller project, than expected. The rivets there are countersunk, that means the casing must go under the jib track? You think it's OK? Or a small bumps, made by the rivet heads, won't get in the way and I can use non countersunk rivets?

Andre
Nacra 5.5SL

Since the holes in the fiberglass have enlarged I think you could use the casings under the track. Make sure that the size of the casings is the correct size for the counter sunk rivets.

Another option would be to remove the track and fill the holes with fiberglass. Then re-drill the holes in the same location using the track to guide you. If you are careful with the fiberglass it will all be under the track.

I could not find a way to attach a picture... The rivets are going throuh the track, then aluminum tramp holder (with groove), then through the hull. Thinking about filling the holes as you suggested, moving the track a bit forward and drilling new holes. A small rolls of glass soaked with marine epoxy looks to me as good plugs for the old holes. Right?

Andre
Nacra 5.5SL

End of the story. The rivets arrived, I drilled the old ones, moved the track forward about 2", drilled new holes and riveted the track without rivet caps.
There was a problem though. After cutting the rivet's head, the drill bit tries to move aside into fibegglass and I had to stop and leave the remnants in the holes. All of them.
If I knew I couldn't drill the old rivets out completely I would just drill new holes through the track and put additional rivets. Interestingly, I got an impression that there is a metal stripe between the fiberglass layers under the track, that actually holds the rivets.

Once you remove the head off the rivet, a punch and hammer will drive the rivet out of the hole.

I did not like the resistance and the sound when I tried to do that. I thought that would destroy the lower layers of glass and new rivets would not hold as well as the original ones, so I skipped this step.