Ama Connections to Hull
Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 4:21 am
How often do you look down the tunnel formed by the ama and the main hull after folding? Well, I did to see if I could tell if the adjusting lines were dragging in the water. I could not, but I could see that the forward vertical rod that holds the ama to the pivot arm was about to lose its nut!
With the ama out, this is a very easy nut to tighten, but you cannot see it without laying down on the ama and peering around the fiberglass. This was not on my inspection list for a normal sail.
I would suspect that the rod would not com out of the ama under normal sailing conditions, but it may move up and down. There are some cotter keys and other spacers that may prevent any serious movement, but obviously PCI thought it needed a nut, so I would hate to lose it. All three other nuts were tight, but it was interesting that one of the other three had two nuts. Now I am wondering if all originally had two nuts and I just lost the second nut on the other three rods! Can someone please check and report what they have?
John
With the ama out, this is a very easy nut to tighten, but you cannot see it without laying down on the ama and peering around the fiberglass. This was not on my inspection list for a normal sail.
I would suspect that the rod would not com out of the ama under normal sailing conditions, but it may move up and down. There are some cotter keys and other spacers that may prevent any serious movement, but obviously PCI thought it needed a nut, so I would hate to lose it. All three other nuts were tight, but it was interesting that one of the other three had two nuts. Now I am wondering if all originally had two nuts and I just lost the second nut on the other three rods! Can someone please check and report what they have?
John