My H16 main and jib heads have been corroding for a few years now. On the main head, the grommet has essentially corroded away. The head plate itself looks OK. On the jib, the shackle that was riveted to the head grommet has separated due to rivet corrosion.
On the main, can I just replace that grommet? MattB mentioned an INOX grommet as an upgrade in a different thread; the tack and clew on that sail have nice SS grommets which seem to be in plastic (no plates), but the head is as you see below.
On the jib, new sails seem to have that upper grommet whipped to the top thimble with cord rather than having the shackle that I have. Is there an improvement to be made up there, beyond just knocking out the corroded rivet and whipping the grommet to the thimble? The grommet itself looks intact but there's a bit of corrosion which may just be from the old rivet. What do new sails have here? The last photo seems to show a crack in the inner diameter of that grommet so I guess it should be replaced.
I plan to send the sails off this winter for some general maintenance, and if there are parts I can supply that would be better than what a sail shop is likely to have on hand, I'll do that.
