Attaching Clam Cleats To Sailing Dinghy Mast

Clam CleatDoing some dinghy mast repairs and am learning as I go. I have two clam cleats to attach to the mast.

Attaching Large Clam Cleat To Dinghy Mast

With the larger cleat I am using monel rivets. I sourced the monel rivets on ebay and they were delivered promptly. Monel rivets from eBay shop Lulham-Robinson Sailing

Attaching Small Clam Cleat To Dinghy Mast

The small clam cleat is proving a bit more of a tricky proposition as the nose of the pop rivet gun will not reach into the cleat to allow me to rivet the cleat to the mast! To overcome this I was advised my the friendly team at SuperSpars.com who manufactured the mast to use small nuts or washers on the rivet mandrel for the standard nozzle to pull against. This will work for the lower attachment location but not for the other where I will have to use a stainless steel self tapping screw.

Preventing Corrosion

To reduce the chance of corrosion at the junction of the monel rivet and the aluminium mast I am using LA-CO 240ml SlicTite Pipe Thread Compound sourced on Amazon. It seems to have the properties required though only time will tell. The SlicTite Pipe Thread Compound can also be sourced on on ebay

Cleat Attachment Tips

I found some nice Clam Cleat Attachment Tips on attaching cleats on the ClamCleat.com website.