No, you don't want to make your own nut, or even deform a close existing one
to fit. Tap and die sets just come with a little set of guages that measure
pitch, but the guages are available separately. Hardware stores also have
plates, either plastic or (more expensively, metal) with different sizes of
holes to test bolts for diameter and pitch if the bolt is at all accesible.
I am surprised that a machine shop couldn't match it. There are only two and
a quarter standards for fittings - metric for most of the world, SAE for
recalcitrant Americans, and Wentworth for a dwindling few masochistic
Englishmen. No sane person would ever make a Wentworth fitting, so it must
be either metric or SAE. The metal work on these boats comes from their own
foundry, Grand Deer, and they are sometimes a little off, but not much, but
that might make it difficult to match. For what it's worth, the Grand Deer
fittings I have had to deal with have all been copies of US stuff and have
been SAE, although some of them have had uncommon pitches...
Another note: after being in the water, the bolt can get a mineral deposit
on it (plus organic growth) which makes it difficult to start nuts. These
get cleaned up with a little file on the threads or running the appropriate
sized die over it (Catch 22?).
Michael
S/V Cambria

On 7/3/06, Debra Axness <debonair1@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> No one could find a match for it, which is why I suspect it's some strange
> Taiwanese bolt. Are you saying that we can get a tap and die set to make our
> own nuts? What would we start with, a close match of SAE nut?
>
>
>

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Received on Mon Jul 3 13:53:26 2006