I have a 1984 Ericson 38' that I've been scheming to re-rig for a while. One of my outstanding decisions is regarding the Navtec T-balls on the shrouds and. I'm wondering if anyone has replaced their Navtec T-balls with through bolted tangs, or if anyone can point me to a resource for best practice. Mainly I'm wondering if this could be accomplished with out drilling out new holes in the mast and just using the existing T-ball cutouts. And if so should I leave the backing plates in for added support or remove the backing plates in favor of a larger through bolt. Here are my thoughts:
I'm looking at the size of my existing t-ball backing plates, the clevis pins at the bottom of my shrouds, and compression tubes (available from rigrite http://www.rigrite.com/Spars/SparParts/Tangs-complete/Compression_Tubes.htm).
Currently all the pins for my shrouds at the deck are 1/2" or less. All my shrouds have the GIB 740-7 sized backing plate which has a 5/8" wide slot. Rigrite sells a compression tube (K-9632) with 1/2" I.D. and 5/8" O.D.
I'm wondering if there would be any issues simply using a 1/2" through bolt with that compression tube leaving the backing plates? I assumed it would be ideal to leave the backing plates in as it couldn't hurt to have the mast wall reinforced.
Removing the plate would would leave a 7/8" wide cutout which (from looking at Rigrites site) would allow me to use through bolts as large as 3/4".
I've attached a sketch of my proposed plan. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
I'm looking at the size of my existing t-ball backing plates, the clevis pins at the bottom of my shrouds, and compression tubes (available from rigrite http://www.rigrite.com/Spars/SparParts/Tangs-complete/Compression_Tubes.htm).
Currently all the pins for my shrouds at the deck are 1/2" or less. All my shrouds have the GIB 740-7 sized backing plate which has a 5/8" wide slot. Rigrite sells a compression tube (K-9632) with 1/2" I.D. and 5/8" O.D.
I'm wondering if there would be any issues simply using a 1/2" through bolt with that compression tube leaving the backing plates? I assumed it would be ideal to leave the backing plates in as it couldn't hurt to have the mast wall reinforced.
Removing the plate would would leave a 7/8" wide cutout which (from looking at Rigrites site) would allow me to use through bolts as large as 3/4".
I've attached a sketch of my proposed plan. Any input would be greatly appreciated.