Dave, You might see if this arrangement will work for you: http://www.dca.uk.com/articles/reefing.htm Permatex COPPER based anti sieze is supposed to be the one to use for aluminum/stainless. I used this on some stainless screws at the masthead and the screws never seem tight. I am always afraid they will come out on their own. I recently removed a lot of hardware from my old mast and boom. The really old stainless screws were essentially welded to aluminum after some 25 years. The ones I put in 10 years ago were starting to corrode but were still removable. It was interesting that the stainless steel bolts in the foredeck cleat were completely welded to the aluminum cleat. If you are doing this combination I would use Permatex on the body of the cleat (aluminum object) but not the threads. I spend about 1/3 of my sailing is real saltwater and 2/3 in brackish water. My boat is garaged when not in use. The first 15 years of the boats existance it was kept in central GA and saw saltwater occasionally. If your exposure to saltwater and outdoors is higher the corrosion will happen much faster. If you are in a pure fresh water environment I would probably not worry about it too much. I am almost exclusively using pop rivets on my new boom and mast fittings. I bought a cheap pop rivet kit a number of years ago and use what fits the fitting. Most non-thick fitting will take a rivet labeled A64 in my kit. The are about 3/8" thick and 1/2" long from the shoulder to the end of the nub. I do think these are longer than they need to be. I use longer ones for some think aluminum cleats and they are 3/8" thick and 3/4" long. The only disadvantage I can see with the pop rivets is that when you remove them there is a piece left rattling around inside the mast or boom. Thanks Doug Kelch M15 #1G "Seas the Day" --- On Sat, 2/28/09, W David Scobie <wdscobie@yahoo.com> wrote: From: W David Scobie <wdscobie@yahoo.com> Subject: M_Boats: attaching new boom hardware To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Date: Saturday, February 28, 2009, 10:57 PM Mboaters: I've purchased a new main for SCRED, my M15. This sail has two reef points so I'm in the process of setting up the boom to for the necessary second line. For attaching the second eye strap, bullet block and clamcleat I'm looking for opinions - aluminum rivet the items in place (as done with the other hardware); or, stainless steel screw the items in place? If riveting in place, what 'grip length' for the rivet? If screwing in place, what length of screw? I've seen in other's posts to use 'never-seize' to avoid problems between stainless fittings and the aluminum. In the local hardware store i've found 'anti-seize' by PERMATEX. Are these the same products? Dave Scobie M15 #288 – SCRED visit Scred's www-site: http://www.freewebs.com/m15-named-scred _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats Remember, there is no privacy on the Internet!