Loose Sliding Cam Cleat Track

[pafitzge]

I have an early 70's DSII and the sliding Cam Cleat on one side is loose. The mounting bolts will not tighten down when turned. Is there a threaded mounting plate or nuts on the backside? It does not appear that you can get access to them. Has anyone had this problem and have a recommended fix? Just found your site and it is terrific.

[nmelby]

Hi There,
I had the same problem. In my '78 DSII, they were attached with nuts behind the fiberglass, with a wood backplate. The wood deteriorated over time, and the nuts became loose and rattled off when my jib sheet was luffing on a heavy air day.

My resolution to this was to have a bar nut made by a local machine shop. I took my jib track into the shop, and they matched up an aluminum (hardened aluminum) bar with fine thread screws in tapped holes. It's a little less than 1/4" thick, made of some scrap they had laying around. It works great.

Hope this helps....
-Nate

[Roger]

From inside the cuddy I cut access ports to reach the area behind the sliding track, then replaced the loose nuts with proper ss bolts, ss nuts and ss fender washers. I used inspection ports to replace the access hole I cut.

[pafitzge]

Thanks for the quick replies. For the bar nut solution was the bar the full lenth of the sliding track or was it just a short piece for each bolt like a butterfly nut? How do you feed it in behind the fiberglass? Will study the problem and both solutions when I get back up to the lake this weekend and visit my boat. Thanks for you help

[nmelby]

The bar nut was the length of the track, and was about 1" tall, and less than 1/4" thick, my boat had inspection ports already there, so I was able to recruit someone with small arms to help hold it while I threaded the screws back into it.

I think that nuts with some big washers would also have worked, but I opted for the total strength of the bigger bar nut. It was also a little easier to install (I don't think I could have reached the far side of the track from the inspection ports).
-Nate