Forestay Clevis Pin Situation

[Sailor_Grant]

I do not know what to do with this standing rigging issue and looking for some advice. This is the clevis pin that attaches the forestay to the chainplate. The clevis pin is correctly sized for the chainplate, however, it is too small for the toggle underneath the roller furler. Should I drill a larger hole in the chainplate to remedy this? Attached are pictures of the issue. As you can see there is a washer on one side of the toggle, but the PO didn't put one on the other side.

[Tillsbury]

That toggle looks far too lightweight for the job. Look at the thickness compared with what it’s attached to. Looks like an emergency substitution to me, I’d replace it with something much more substantial and take the opportunity to get the holes right.

[LittleWing77]

Good catch, Grant! Take a moment to pat yourself on the back for your diligence.

I will echo what Tillsbury says, though: that looks w-a-a-a-y too insubstantial for the job it's doing. If it were me, I would get a professional rigger in there to offer advice on the correct fix. If you drill the chainplate as you suggest, would that ultimately weaken the fitting over time to the point of failure...?

As I don't know the answer to that, I'd want to get a definitive answer from someone who does.

Good luck!
Warmly,
LittleWing

[Pete7]

Personally, I wouldn't use split rings either, but a proper cotter pin.

Pete

[a64pilot]

Looks to me like there is plenty of meat to drill. However I’d not do anything until after I had a pro rigger look at it, cause it came from the factory with something that fit that hole that was correctly sized.
If you drill, drill underside and ream to correct size, that leaves a smooth hole and eliminates any stress risers. Probably overkill as most things on a boat are way oversized anyway, but why not do it right.

[singlespeed]

Find a new beefier toggle that has the correct size pin holes. This may take time, if so, consider sleeping the undersized pin to fit. This should only be a short term solution, used u til you source the correct toggle.

[Dougtiff]

As a rigger, i agree the toggle looks on the thin side, the clevis should have a cotter pin, not a ring, to answer the question, a rigging bushing can be used to bush up the hole on the toggle, they are made out of stainless steel.

[RaymondR]

You could TIG weld a couple of SS washers onto the insides and outsides of the toggle but I don't like welding onto stainless which appears to be already of limited capacity.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Dougtiff

.... a rigging bushing can be used to bush up the hole on the toggle, they are made out of stainless steel.

The bush can be made fairly simply by getting the correct sized clevis pin for the toggle, drill the centre out to the size of the smaller clevis pin, cut it to make two bushes and use these bushes to fit into the toggle cheeks. The smaller clevis pin will now fir both the tang and the toggle. Finish off with a cotter pin.

[Sailor_Grant]

I don't have access to a metal lathe where I am, so building a bushing is going to be difficult for me. Is drilling the chainplate not a good idea? to just have a larger clevis pin through the whole setup. Or should I try to find a different toggle? Does anyone have pictures of the bushing suggestion or a website where I could find an example of one?

[a64pilot]

Bushings should be pretty widely available, probably in bronze, which ought to be fine I think. Even Auto parts stores ought to have a stock of bushings. I think bushing is better than drilling as it’s not permanent and is easily undone.
Biggest issue with drilling is ensuring there is enough meat in the chain plate, you want at least as much metal left around the hole as the size of the hole. Plus of course if drilled, you can’t go back, and the boat was built with the smaller hole, so in my opinion you ought to go back with whatever the stock solution was.

[Dougtiff]

You can bush with s.s. tubing or yello mental, i would not drill out the chain plate.

[Tillsbury]

All of these are temporary fixes though. As soon as you can get a proper toggle and the right fittings if you like your mast pointing upwards.

[Pegu Club]

Have a local rigger get you the correct toggle and clevis pin, that will be the most direct way to take care of the issue.

Fair winds,

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by Sailor_Grant

I don't have access to a metal lathe where I am, so building a bushing is going to be difficult for me. Is drilling the chainplate not a good idea? to just have a larger clevis pin through the whole setup. Or should I try to find a different toggle? Does anyone have pictures of the bushing suggestion or a website where I could find an example of one?

Drilling or reaming the hole in the chain plate is a viable solution provided that the portion of the circumference towards the end of the chain plate is not excessively reduced in thickness. It would be a miserable job but filing the hole out in the direction away from end of the chain plate would serve without thinning the subject section of the circumference.