Does anyone know what this is?

Steve McGill · July 11, 2019, 01:11:12 PM

Is it magnetic?

Geoffreykwright · August 22, 2019, 08:48:53 AM

I figured it out - its the tail of one side of cotter pin holding the boom to the gooseneck! (one side of the pin sheared off half-way along the pin).

Noah · August 22, 2019, 12:54:35 PM

Dave DeAre · August 24, 2019, 05:14:02 AM

If you have a Charleston Spar roller furling main, it may be the remains of a vertical cotter pin from the gooseneck. If so, the boom will be loose on the gooseneck. This pin is not obvious when it is missing and boom could separate from gooseneck. This happened on my boat, several years ago. If you can, check out a sister ship, missing pin on yours should be obvious.

Geoffreykwright · August 28, 2019, 06:11:24 AM

Dave - this is exactly what it was. A vertical cotter pin holding the boom to the gooseneck. From the top the "hoop" of the pin looked fine. From the bottom there was only one "tail" coming out. The other half had sheared off inside the gooseneck. Thanks.

KWKloeber · August 28, 2019, 11:59:46 AM

Does your boom swivel or is it fixed with the pinned gooseneck casting?

Sdsailor · October 05, 2019, 04:32:18 AM

Funny. I found this exact piece on my deck and also puzzled me for a few days. It belongs to the vhf whip antenna. A bird bent and broke mine, I assume, on a rusty point. Let us know if that's it.

Geoffreykwright · October 05, 2019, 05:31:19 AM

Nope. It was part of a sheared cotter pin which held the boom to the gooseneck.

Ron Hill · October 06, 2019, 04:44:31 PM

Goef : It may look like a piece of a cotter pin to you, but it surely does NOT to me.

Your boat - a thought

Geoffreykwright · October 07, 2019, 06:06:20 AM

Ron - it absolutely was part of a cotter pin. It was the bottom half of one side (the bit shown in red in the diagram). From the top the 'eye' of the pin looked fine. At the bottom of the gooseneck only one of the two tails was there - the other half I found on the deck.

KWKloeber · October 07, 2019, 07:03:15 AM

Gents: Asked 15 posts ago
<<is one side flat and the other rounded (ie, is it D shaped like half a cotter pin?)>>

The principles of "multiple lines of evidence" and "Ockham's Razor."

Ron Hill · October 07, 2019, 03:01:27 PM

Goef : My opinion still stands!!

In your original picture "in your hand", It is tooo long, no flat side and it has a nearly 90 degree bend!?!

It's a "homemade something" ?