[Public-List] Tack attachment FIX

[Marcelo D. Gentinetta]

Good morning,
On Thursday, I tackled the broken tack attachment issue on my boom. With all the group’s suggestions whirling in my head, I headed to my non-corporate marine hardware and took in the sights of the hardware hanging on the walls like a dog searching for a bone in the backyard. My first task was finding some sort of tang that I could bend around the boom’s groove to create a U-shaped “clamp” and then drill 2 holes at the top to accept a pass through bolt that would run through the partially broken original hole in the boom and hold the tack shackle and the 2 reefing hooks. Well, I discarded that Idea quickly when I tried to manually bend a 1/8 inch thick tang. It would have been very difficult to accommodate it around the shape of the boom around the groove. Then, my attention fell on a group of boom bails hanging on the wall. Could it be? After looking at the different sizes, I settled for one made by Ronstan that looked like it would surround the boom at the groove perfectly and whose holes would end up at the right height for the pass through bolt. Well, it turned out to be my lucky day. After all, there are no boat projects in my book that work on the first try! The bail fit perfectly around the groove in the boom and the hole aligned. It even looks elegant!
So there it is. 
Thanks guys,
Marcelo
Alegría #441