Spreader tip is 2 inches too far aft( a replacement spreader) . How to calculate torque at the mast brackets , and what to expect if I sail her like this ?
I matched the holes and tip on the old spreader exactly as I drilled the new ones. I noticed the old port spreader had more for and aft play than the starboard. On examination this was due to wider holes for the pins ; clearly these had worked open during 38 years. I ran the drill through more and added some slop but was warned off adding enough, it seems. Essentially I trusted the center points of the old spreader holes; wrong .
As I look up the mast from abeam on the port side, and hide the mast head with the spreader, the shroud clearly runs forward to the chain plate from the spreader, unlike the port side.( all in line there)
The pins are steel, the spreader aluminum; does the mast get a dimple if I sail her ? Do the pins give ? Do the pins open some nice harmless slop in the aluminum ? ( 1/8 inch thick , with welded 1/8 inch plates as support out 5 inches from the mast on the inside - so the pins go though 1/2 inch of metal. (these spreaders are rectangular "tube" 3 inches by 1.5 by 41 inches long))
Do I run up the mast, pull off the spreaders and drill out the holes (on a calm day!) Is it a mistake to add more "slop" ? Do I have another made and bring the mast down to put it on ?
This is on a 30 foot Pearson - the mast is about 38 feet; not a very small boat and not so cheap to have the mast go down and up again - and I want to get this done and go sailing !
A shot of the rig here:
www.sailboat-delivery.com/sany0854.jpg