Re-Riveting Mainsail Headboard

benedict

Rank: Mate

Registered: Mar 20, 2012

Last visit: Jun 16, 2014

Posts: 248
Posted: Mar 21, 2012 - 01:40 PM

I apologize if this has been covered in a previous topic. I'm searching through the forum, but haven't seen anything that dealt with this directly:

The PC-19 I bought came with two mains, one for light wind days and one for heavier wind. The smaller sail is in really nice shape for a used sail. The larger one needs some work on its headboard.

The rivets on the headboard appear to be deformed. I haven't had a chance to take a look at it in good light to see how it happened, but given the conditions here I'm guessing too much sail in too much wind. As far as I can tell the cloth underneath is still fine.

The sail repair book I have suggested using pop rivets or directly stitching through the rivet holes. Neither method fills me with a lot of joy, but of the two I'll opt for pop riveting. What I'd rather do is replace the rivets in the headboard with new, original style rivets.

Any pointers on how to repair the headboard on a mainsail?

Thanks,

Tom

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Tom Benedict
Island of Hawaii
P-Cat 18 / Sail# 361 / HA 7633 H / "Smilodon"
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yurdle

Rank: Mate

Registered: Aug 22, 2007

Last visit: Jan 07, 2015

Posts: 742
Posted: Mar 21, 2012 - 03:39 PM

Aren't the originals 1/8" brass pop rivets? I replaced mine with pop rivets and it worked just fine...or at least better than the missing and destroyed rivets that were replaced.

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Rob
OKC
Pile of Nacra parts..
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benedict

Rank: Mate

Registered: Mar 20, 2012

Last visit: Jun 16, 2014

Posts: 248
Posted: Mar 21, 2012 - 05:53 PM

These look like they were aluminum rivets, hammered flush on both sides. Sorry, I don't have any pictures to show. I'll try to take some tonight.

Any problems with the pop rivets chafing other parts of the sail when it's packed away?

Thanks,

Tom

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Tom Benedict
Island of Hawaii
P-Cat 18 / Sail# 361 / HA 7633 H / "Smilodon"
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jfricker

Rank: Lubber

Registered: Aug 01, 2011

Last visit: Oct 07, 2014

Posts: 82
Posted: Mar 22, 2012 - 10:34 AM

Replacement headboards from Murry's come with solid aluminum rivets that you hammer to set. The smashed side deforms into a low profile pancake, lower than a pop rivet and without the cyllindrical edge or the pop rivet.

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John Fricker
Prindle 16
Seabrook, Texas
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