One of the refit jobs on Sweet Destiny has been rerigging her, so while I had the mast down I decided to have it repainted. One thing led to another, and it seemed like a good time to pull all the fittings off, check for corrosion problems, and reassemble with good insulation between dissimilar metals. Many fittings on aluminum masts are typically pop-riveted in place, and I spent several hours drilling out the old 3/16ths stainless rivets. If you’ve ever used a pop-rivet tool, you’ve probably found that it only takes installing a few before your hand is aching and the tool starts bending ominously. With about 100 rivets to install, I knew I’d need a good tool. And it’s the Big Daddy Riveter, from the Marson division of Alcoa. It’s an industrial strength product, with long, solid arms and a geared mechanism that makes for lots of leverage. So, the tool has worked beautifully and it made putting the mast back together considerably easier than drilling the old rivets out. The downside is that the Big Daddy is expensive (I got mine from Jamestown Distributors for $170), but it’s one of these last-a-lifetime and pass on to your grandkids kinda tools. Just hope they need to rivet something someday.

Link: Marson Big Daddy Riveter