Will your Gooseneck Melt in the Sun…..??

I was very surprised at the FF Midwinters that we had to get the rivet gun out to fix Mark Firth. (his boat)

We’d had a bit of a breeze, a fair honker actually,  the week before and Mark and Tony had managed to explode their Selden gooseneck.  I have the same fitting on my mast – it’s the common recent fitting from Selden – a kind of black nylon fitting on the mast face, then stainless steel swivelling bits.

Then at the Dinghy Show, I noticed this on Chris Waples new boat.  A replacement fitting made entirely of stainless. So I guess, Mark Firth’s was not a one off….  Then Phil Evans told me he recommends to all his clients that the standard fitting is replaced with the full on stainless job – and to heck with the weight.

Interesting – I’d better inspect the gooseneck on our mast….