Stainless screws seized in aluminum mast

Subject: Stainless screws seized in aluminum mast

You guys have sailed lots of stuff and when I'm not sailing my Tandem Island I also sail some other boats.

After breaking the mast on one of my other boats (a Stiletto 27), I found a replacement mast.

The replacement is great, but was repainted, which means all the hardare was removed so it could be painted.

When I got it it is beautiful, but has no hardware

Does anyone have some great suggestions on how to removed stainless steel screws that are seized in my old broken aluminum mast.

I am finally transferring the hardware from my broken Stiletto 27 mast and installing the old pieces and parts on the new mast, which is an old 27 mast salvaged from a wrecked boat and then stripped down and repainted.

I’d consider buying all new cleats and such, but the replacement mast is already drilled for the original hardware and I’m not sure where to even get replacements, if I cannot salvage the stuff from my old broken mast.

Any ideas out there ?????

Tom

You can use a penetrating lubricant like Kroil or others that are specifically intended to to loosen seized threads.
Stainless fasteners tend to seize and shear off in stainless but in aluminum they should come out unless there is a great deal of oxidation or they were over torqued when installed.
But if you are just removing hardware from a broken mast why do you care if they break ? You shouldn't reuse those fasteners anyway so put a pair of visegrips on them and shear them off at will or drill them out if you have flat head fasteners and have already rounded out the drive slots.
Sometimes applying some heat with a propane torch then letting the fastener cool will break a corrosion bond.

Chris

For seized bolts, i've had good luck with pb blaster and have heard great things about kroil.

_________________
-- Chad | 2014 TI

Success.

I used a bit of penetrating lub, a bit of heat and a Dewalt 18 volt impact driver.

The fastners immediately came out with no damage to the heads, etc.

Thanks.

Tom