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Boom to mast connection repair

Bolo

Contributing Partner
As part of my spring boat inspection to prepare for this seasons sailing I do engine maintenance (oil change, filter replacements, new engine zinc, etc) and also do a visual inspection of the rigging. To my surprise I found that the clevis pin at the goose neck toggle (silver part in the photo) was halfway out! You can see in the photo that the front end of the toggle isn't parallel with the mast but leaning back. It appears that the cotter pin was missing and that allowed the pin to drift upward. In the photo you can see the head of the pin through one of the holes of the toggle and notice that the pin doesn't extend out the bottom where the cotter pin would secure it. This must of happened late last year because I didn't see this till this spring. No amount of coaxing was going to get the pin back in place and it also looked like it needed a few extra washers, all of which I added. In order to do the repair I relied on the topping lift to hold up the aft end of the boom and I wrapped the main halyard around the front end (just behind the goose neck fitting) to hold up the front of the boom. I also disconnected the main sail tack, a line holding the front of the sailing bag to the boom, disconnected the boom vang and loosened up the main sheet. All this to allow the boom to be pulled away from the mast fitting but keep it from falling onto the deck. Removal of the fitting from the part that the clevis pin runs through, the toggle, is accomplished by simply removing the single bolt that connects the goose neck to the toggle. The old bolt looked a bit beat up so I replaced the original 3/8"dia. x 2" long one with a 2.5" long bolt so I could add washers on each side which were also missing.

Moral of this story. Check your rigging throughly and often which I'm going to do now more then once a year.goose-neck.jpg
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Thanks for the heads-up. Good Catch!
I hope the old hole did not elongate too much.

A smooth bolt with a ny-loc nut and washer should do the job, too.

Same Kenyon fitting on our boat, and some years ago I pulled and re-drove all of the fastenings into the mast. In spite of some corrosion underneath, I was able to clean up the parts and drive them back in with a lot of sealant around the threads, Light duty swearing was involved, IIRC.
:)
Those OEM slot-drive screws are terrible to put torque on, and should be replaced with Phillips heads, I should note.... "IMHO"
 

Slick470

Member III
I remove our boom during the winter months to prevent the extra UV on the reefing and outhaul lines, so I check that connection at least twice a year. We have the same fitting, but our pin is a "fast pin" type that has one of those spring loaded balls at one end holding it in there. I've even replaced it with a new one and keep a spare in the parts organizer in case I drop one in the bay.

It's never tried to work it's way out so I haven't thought much about it. Maybe I should replace it with something a bit more secure. hmm...
 

Bolo

Contributing Partner
Thanks for the heads-up. Good Catch!
I hope the old hole did not elongate too much.

A smooth bolt with a ny-loc nut and washer should do the job, too.

Same Kenyon fitting on our boat, and some years ago I pulled and re-drove all of the fastenings into the mast. In spite of some corrosion underneath, I was able to clean up the parts and drive them back in with a lot of sealant around the threads, Light duty swearing was involved, IIRC.
:)
Those OEM slot-drive screws are terrible to put torque on, and should be replaced with Phillips heads, I should note.... "IMHO"
I did used a lock nut with washers to secure the goose neck to the toggle fitting. As for the toggle fitting I used one washer under the head of the pin, one washer between the first tab and the fitting, TWO washers between the fitting and the second tab (I figure most of the friction will be there) and another between the bottom tab and the cotter pin. Lots of washers.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
I'm pretty sure the misalignment of that pin is what weakened and finally broke the ears of my aluminum gooseneck.

It had been out of the bottom gudgeon for some time when I bought the boat, and had escaped the notice of a P.O. who was usually alert to such things.
 

nquigley

Sustaining Member
As part of my spring boat inspection to prepare for this seasons sailing I do engine maintenance (oil change, filter replacements, new engine zinc, etc) and also do a visual inspection of the rigging. To my surprise I found that the clevis pin at the goose neck toggle (silver part in the photo) was halfway out! You can see in the photo that the front end of the toggle isn't parallel with the mast but leaning back. It appears that the cotter pin was missing and that allowed the pin to drift upward. In the photo you can see the head of the pin through one of the holes of the toggle and notice that the pin doesn't extend out the bottom where the cotter pin would secure it. This must of happened late last year because I didn't see this till this spring. No amount of coaxing was going to get the pin back in place and it also looked like it needed a few extra washers, all of which I added. In order to do the repair I relied on the topping lift to hold up the aft end of the boom and I wrapped the main halyard around the front end (just behind the goose neck fitting) to hold up the front of the boom. I also disconnected the main sail tack, a line holding the front of the sailing bag to the boom, disconnected the boom vang and loosened up the main sheet. All this to allow the boom to be pulled away from the mast fitting but keep it from falling onto the deck. Removal of the fitting from the part that the clevis pin runs through, the toggle, is accomplished by simply removing the single bolt that connects the goose neck to the toggle. The old bolt looked a bit beat up so I replaced the original 3/8"dia. x 2" long one with a 2.5" long bolt so I could add washers on each side which were also missing.

Moral of this story. Check your rigging throughly and often which I'm going to do now more then once a year.View attachment 38175
I recently noticed the exact same angling-back of the gooseneck's pin - also with my pin trying to pull up. I had a ring-ding at the bottom of my pin, which was almost worn through from being pulled up into/against the lower flange's hole.
I'm also planning to put extra washers above and below the tack fitting, and a lock-nut underneath, but don't we also have to adjust that bolt in the boom-end's 'nose' so that the tack fitting remains oriented vertically?
 

bigd14

Contributing Partner
Blogs Author
Those OEM slot-drive screws are terrible to put torque on, and should be replaced with Phillips heads, I should note.... "IMHO"
Those slotted screws are not fun, for sure. I have generally had good luck removing those with an impact driver with a correctly fitted bit. The critical part is to first gently drive them slightly tighter to break the corrosion bond. Light on the trigger finger! This helps prevent buggering the flats right off the bat trying to reverse them out.
 

Slick470

Member III
I remove our boom during the winter months to prevent the extra UV on the reefing and outhaul lines, so I check that connection at least twice a year. We have the same fitting, but our pin is a "fast pin" type that has one of those spring loaded balls at one end holding it in there. I've even replaced it with a new one and keep a spare in the parts organizer in case I drop one in the bay.

It's never tried to work it's way out so I haven't thought much about it. Maybe I should replace it with something a bit more secure. hmm...
Hmm... to late to edit this. I don't know what I was thinking. The fast pin is somewhere else and I have a large cotter pin with ring like in the original picture. I do remove it and re-install it every year though, and I do have a spare in the organizer. Oh, well, nothing to see here, carry on.
 

Bolo

Contributing Partner
I'm pretty sure the misalignment of that pin is what weakened and finally broke the ears of my aluminum gooseneck.

It had been out of the bottom gudgeon for some time when I bought the boat, and had escaped the notice of a P.O. who was usually alert to such things.
Christian, I did some searching on this site before tackling the repair and did come across your reinforced goose neck with the "over-the-top" plate (not a bad thing at all) and so I carefully looked over the goose neck on my boat but found not cracking or damage. Hopefully I caught the problem soon enough before any damage was done.
 
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