1. Anyone have a source for the little red "flanged plastic spacers" that are on the back of the rear beam and that the tramp. lacing runs around? I have a few that are cracked or have part of the flange missing.

2. Over the course of that last month of rain here in Seattle my mast, which has been up until yesterday, has gotten about a quart of water in it. My general plan is to epoxy a little threaded drain fitting into the mast, and also use it to pressurize the mast to find the leak(s). Any thoughts or advice on that subject?

Thanks much,
Eric R

Hey Eric,

To answer your question:

1. New England Catamarans has the red tramp lacing fittings in stock. They tend to crack when you rivet them on. Nacra now have a black fitting that is a bit nicer.

2. It's pretty safe to install a screw in the bottom of the mast to allow water to drain. However the root of your problem is a leaking mast. Likely your issue is where the mast rotation arm attaches to the mast. You could also have a leak elsewhere, the mast cap is one such place. The easy way to check for leaks is to walk the mast into the water and see where the bubbles are.

https://www.murrays.com/product/50-41220001/

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Ron
Nacra F18
Reservoir Sailing Assn.
Brandon, Mississippi
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I used those in the previous post with the following rivets:

https://www.murrays.com/product/50-8011231/

Also bought the tool similar to:

https://www.murrays.com/product/33-7903/

Worked great after drilling out the previous rivets. Used a oak dowel as a lever to tighten the tramp lacing...they are rock solid now.



Edited by schoen.steve on Nov 26, 2017 - 11:29 PM.

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Steve
Nacra Inter 20
Okemos Michigan
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Thanks very much Steve, Ron, and Samc99us. That's just the info. I need. The tramp. is getting a new halyard pocket top and a grommet for the douse line to pass through while I'm at it.

Sorry for the triple post, each time I got an error message so I assumed the post didn't happen and tried again.

Eric R

I am not a huge Harbor Freight fan, but I have used this air rivet gun on masts and booms with Monel rivets, and it works well. When used with aluminum rivets, like on the cat box or other metal projects, I set the PSI lower (just under 90 PSI).

https://www.harborfreight…aulic-riveter-62685.html

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Sheet In!
Bob
_/)_____/)_/)____/)____/)_____/)/)__________/)__
Prindle 18-2 #244 "Wakizashi"
Prindle 16 #3690 "Pegasus" Sold (sigh)
AZ Multihull Fleet 42 member
(Way) Past Commodore of Prindle Fleet 14
Arizona, USA
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ericrayl

My general plan is to epoxy a little threaded drain fitting into the mast, and also use it to pressurize the mast to find the leak(s). Any thoughts or advice on that subject?

Eric, I put a tire valve stem at the top of an alumnium mast I was rebuilding for my Hobie 18. There's plenty of meat in the masthead fitting to hold this, and it is very quick to check pressure... just take off the valve cap and depress the valve -- it'll suck in if cold and blow out if hot. No flow means you likely have a leak.

I've been told that it is unnecessary if I have a good, sealed mast... and it is probably overkill, but I like KNOWING for certain that I do have a sealed, watertight mast. It is also easier to find leaks with soap bubbles in my front yard than to wade into my girlfriend's pool!

FWIW, I have the Harbor Freight rivet gun that Bob referenced, and it is a snap to pull any rivet I've encountered. HF does a few things well, a lot of things adequately, and a moderate number of things poorly... the trick is to figure out which is which. Precision equipment I buy elsewhere.

Randii

Thanks Bob and Randii. Luckily I can borrow many rivet pullers from work for the rear beam eyelet post job. We've pretty well settled on buying from https://www.afsrmarson.ne…roducts/Tooling.php?l=en if HF ever doesn't meet your needs.

If any of you are doing this same job in the future, use New England Catamarans for the eyelet posts, their price per post is 19% of the source linked above.