Hi there,
Retired teacher. Living near Monterey, CA, USA... Practically no experience sailing. Lots of climbing, kayaking, canoeing..

Purchased a 1975 Prindle 16 for $150.00 on June 12... Hulls seems sound... Some sun fading... Trampoline was real bad and the jib was not included... Seller was sailing without it... Have replaced the trampoline and jib... Managed to raise the mast... Mainsail looks good. Boom had the fore end without any connection to the mast... Have purchased connectors to attach boom to mast, Refit the U-shaped bracket to the boom... but... How do I connect the boom base fitting to the mast... Rivets? Lashing?... There are no old rivet holes in the mast, so the thing wasn't riveted on before... Can I rivet one on now? How was it connected originally? Can it be changed to the more modern way??? Many questions... Any advice would be greatly appreciated... Thanks in advance...

Mike

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Mike
1975 Prindle restoration project "Sanchah"
Retired Teacher
Newbie Sailor
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Mike,

Thanks for introducing yourself and welcome to TheBeachcats.com!

Your story is very familiar, I'd say a large percentage of catamaran sailors began exactly as you are doing, buy a boat and figure it out.

Don't worry, it's not hard, if you met some of the folks on here you would think "if they can do it I certainly can".

As far as connecting your boom, take a look at this page from the Prindle Assembly Manual. Does the forward end of your boom and the mast look like this?



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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN

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Hi again...

Forward end of boom now looks like the one in the Owners Manual... Mast has no connection... Just the "curf" (I think that's what you call it) and a cutout section where you put the sail into the "curf"... From what I see, I think I can rivet the boom baseplate thingee to the mast at the base of the cutout... But there are no old rivet holes there... I think they used some other kind of connection in 1975.... Somebody said it was like a Hobie connector... Of course I found that out after I bought the baseplate thingee.... So I am thinking of riveting the baseplate thingee to the mast instead... Do you know if anybody has replaced the "older" connector with the "newer" one?

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Mike
1975 Prindle restoration project "Sanchah"
Retired Teacher
Newbie Sailor
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The '72-79 P-16's have the gooseneck like a H-16 that slides in the curf of mast. You now either have to buy that gooseneck ($65) new (I may have a used one) or buy the part that rivits to the mast to accept the other boom part you bought. At least your boat choice for a beginner is excellent. While you're at it, buy 10' of 3/8" ID black tubing at Home Depot, cut eight 9" pieces, mark where four footloops would go on each side between beams. Drill 3/8" holes thru gunwale (use backing plate to avoid going thru hull) and weave a 1/4" line (home Depot also) thru to creat four trapeze foot anchors OR grab handles to bully boat around on beach or onto trailer. Also put some extra cheek blocks (small) on sides of mast for better downhaul on that '75 mast. Check plastic rollers on main traveler as they're nearing the 40 year mark & are ready to go. There is a replacement car with stainless bearing rollers. Pete

So you removed the end-cap off the front of the boom by drilling out the rivets, you then drilled a hole in the end -cap to accept the goose-neck bolt.......



you attached the goose-neck "U" bracket to the end-cap using that goose-neck bolt and lock nut and then re-riveted the end-cap back onto the boom, correct?



So now all you need is the goose-neck base fitting which mounts to the mast.......



but don't forget the goose-neck box fitting which connects it all together......



you will of course, need the clevis pin (X2) for the box fitting

Items can be ordered from www.murrays.com, out of Carpinteria, CA.

Wow!... Thanks for all the help!...

To pbegle:... Thanks for the reply... Already bought the boom/gooseneck parts at murrays... Just waiting to find out if it was advisable to go ahead and rivet them on... Looks like it is a go to do that, so I have my work cut out for me tomorrow... Also thanks for the reminder about the handles/foot loops and the traveler... The holes are already drilled in my gunwale (by a previous owner, I guess) I'll get the line and tubing tomorrow and get that put back on... I removed the old tubing right after getting the boat, because it was horribly cracked and falling apart... Also, I was wondering about the traveler... It sounded kind of "crunchy" moving across the slide, but I wasn't sure if that was normal or not... I guess it needs to be replaced... (Once every 40 years ain't bad... Thanks for the suggestions...!

To the-renovator:... Yes... That is exactly what I did... Almost... The hole in the fore end of the boom looked like something had twisted out of it under some kind of load... It was larger than the gooseneck bolt, but I backed it up with a couple of stainless steel washers and bolted on the U-bracket... It looks like it will hold just fine... I have the box fitting, base fitting, clevis pins and some monel rivets... I wanted to make sure it was ok to rivet them on to the mast before I did it... I guess it is... Thanks!

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Mike
1975 Prindle restoration project "Sanchah"
Retired Teacher
Newbie Sailor
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Cool! now all you have to do is put a tape measure on your mast and measure 11.5 " from the base, make a mark, and the bottom edge of the goose-neck base fitting will sit on that mark, use monel rivets to attach base fitting to mast. Also remember that the "U" bracket you attached to the boom should be "loose fitted" so that it can pivot. Keep us informed.

Monel Rivets - I hope you have an air powered rivet tool. Smaller ones might not be so bad but just in case buy a six pack and invite a friend over if you just have the hand operated rivet tool

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Lee - On the BIG Lake in MS

Harstil Kaulua 31 - Current Project Boat
Cal 25 - What ? Time to freshen it up again??
MC Scow 16 (1 in the water and 1 parts/project) SOLD
Capri 22 - What do you mean you wont deliver it??
Chrysler Pirateer 13 - new addition to the fleet
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Hey, Mike.....told ya' this was the place to get your answers! Welcome!

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Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16
Clinton, Mississippi
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Hey Jerome,

Thanks for the heads up about this site... As you can tell, I'm getting lots of ideas, answers, etc...

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Mike
1975 Prindle restoration project "Sanchah"
Retired Teacher
Newbie Sailor
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To the-renovator

Quote

Cool! now all you have to do is put a tape measure on your mast and measure 11.5 " from the base, make a mark,

Wondering about the 11.5" from the base measurement...? That turns out to be below some cleats that look like they are for securing the halyards to the mainsail and jib... The original cutout for the mainsail (where you insert it into the mast is 20" from the base... Seems like the sail will downhaul just fine at that point... I will need to enlarge the cutout somewhat to be able to attach the main after attaching the gooseneck base fitting, but it doesn't seem like I need to go all the way down to the 11.5" mark... ? Was there a particular reason for that measurement? ... Please advise...

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Mike
1975 Prindle restoration project "Sanchah"
Retired Teacher
Newbie Sailor
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The reason is that the sail will downhaul a lot more than you think. Proper downhauling is when you sheet the mainsail in tight, then downhaul. H-16's now use a 6:1 downhaul. What I would do is put main up, sheet in tight, then downhaul tight, then mark where to put boom fitting. Pete

To pbegle: Ok... I managed to get the mainsail up without killing myself or destroying my kids car... Looks like it will downhaul very tightly at about 19" from the base... I still need to enlarge the cutout where the sail goes into the mast because putting the sail into the "curf" with the gooseneck base fitting installed will be quite difficult... So I'm thinking I'll enlarge it 4 inches or so (downward). That gets it to about 15 inches from the base. That will keep it above the cleats and give me room to get the sail inserted... Do you see any "downside" to doing that?...

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Mike
1975 Prindle restoration project "Sanchah"
Retired Teacher
Newbie Sailor
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Sounds good! Pete

Alright!... Got the cutout enlarged using a dremel... Riveted on the gooseneck base fitting... Boom attaches just fine. Tomorrow I put up the main, jib, and try to figure out how to control them with the lines... Going to do that in my driveway before I take the boat out to the water... Hope to get it figured out in a day or so. Plan on using the Owner's Manual PDF to try to work it out... Thanks again to Pete and Lee for the advice... I'll let you know how it goes when I get the nerve to take it out on the water...

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Mike
1975 Prindle restoration project "Sanchah"
Retired Teacher
Newbie Sailor
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Quote

Wondering about the 11.5" from the base measurement...? That turns out to be below some cleats that look like they are for securing the halyards to the mainsail and jib...

Sorry Mike, missed your earlier post. Simple explanation, I went out to my P16 and put a tape measure on my mast for the goose-neck base fitting location. The position of the cleats is irrelevant, they simply hold those lines out of the way, the jib is already secured with the "ring and hook", and the main sail is secured with the "slug and hook" method. The main sail on the P16 is "loose-footed", meaning that the foot of the main sail is not secured by feeding it into a curf on the boom, so the boom angles out and up from the mast to the clew of the main sail. I guess it don't matter too much on the angle of the boom.

On the down-haul, there should be a cleat with a built-in fairlead riveted to the mast below the goose-neck base fitting and 2 cheek-blocks on either side of base fitting.......



attach a 6'-8' length of 1/4" line to the grommet on tack of your main sail using a bow-line knot, line feeds down through cheek-block, back up through grommet, down through cheek-block on other side, back up through grommet, down through clam-cleat to be secured, this gives you approx. 4:1 down-haul. When you start to crank on the down-haul, make sure to feed the tack of your sail into the curf of the mast.

Again... Thanks to everybody for all the good advice, ideas, suggestions, etc.... My son and I took "Sancha" out to the lake this morning... Wheee!... Had a great time... Didn't fly the hulls or break any speed records. But on the other hand we didn't sink the boat or the truck... Didn't get in any wrecks along the way... Didn't do any "Boat Ramp Follies" or "Boat Launch Fails"... First time she has been in the water in at least 2 years... This was sort of a "Try to figure things out Run"... We got out and back in relatively good form (for us newbies). Sailed for about 3 hours... Still need to figure out some things, but overall, Whee!...

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Mike
1975 Prindle restoration project "Sanchah"
Retired Teacher
Newbie Sailor
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