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Heel casting repair

Printed From: Yachts and Yachting Online
Category: General
Forum Name: Repair & maintenance
Forum Discription: Questions & tips on the subject
URL: http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=587
Printed Date: 10 May 25 at 8:25am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.665y - http://www.webwizforums.com


Topic: Heel casting repair
Posted By: Pete Cooper
Subject: Heel casting repair
Date Posted: 29 Mar 05 at 9:48am
The foot of my mast is filled with an alloy casting which has holes cast in for attaching the kicker and downhaul.  The hole for the kicker is broken, leaving two jagged ends on the casting.  If I fill this gap with a reasonably thick bridge of Plastic Padding will this suffice?  Is there any other kind of 'plastic metal' which would be better?



Replies:
Posted By: Lucy Lee
Date Posted: 29 Mar 05 at 10:02am

I very much doubt that would work for two reasons. 1) It will be difficult to make a strong enough bond between the plastic padding and the remaining metal to prevent the kicker load from simply pulling the repair off (I am assuming the kicker pulled though the casting one windy day so the hole is exactly in the direction of the max. load). 2) Plastic padding is actually quite soft (ever tried sanding it?), so even if you get the stuff to stick firmly enough the force of the kicker is likelt to wear through the bridge very quickly.

Post a photo of the problem area & then we can make some suggestions about repairs. One simple option might be to put a big shackle into the downhaul hole & then run both the kicker and downhaul to the shakle. Careful though, if the alloy broke from the kicker loading alone this would best be viewed as a temporary fix!



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Fly Cherub!


Posted By: Pete Cooper
Date Posted: 29 Mar 05 at 10:30am
It didn't break under load.  I think it was broken when the marina lifted the mast out, but I am not sure so don't want to challenge them in case my fees mysteriously go up next year!  I had considered using an alloy or stainless tube to take the abrasion, rather than have the shackle direct on to the PP.


Posted By: Lucy Lee
Date Posted: 29 Mar 05 at 11:25am
Hmm. I had assumed you were talking about a dinghy! I've no idea about yachts so I don't think I'd better make any more suggestions

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Fly Cherub!


Posted By: Buzz
Date Posted: 29 Mar 05 at 12:01pm

The safest thing would be to remove the old casting and replace it with a new one. A temporary repair might fail under the high loads which could ruin someones day! 




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