Sex nuts

A couple people have asked what the gunwale and bowpost fasters are. They are called sex nuts and are a thing Andy Hutchinson showed me. They are also called grommet nuts, but that's not as fun to say. They inset into a 3/8" hole in the gunwale or stem, then you shoot though with a 1/4" machine screw (oval head if you can find them) with a finish washer. Once all is tight, zap the extra threads off and hit it with a fine grinder.

When we had a gunwale explode last month, all the sex nuts came off easy as pie and rethreaded the cut-off machine screws without a hitch. Very slick. (That's why I don't glue on gunwales.)

I think I may now own every brass oval head 1/4 x 20 machine screw in the Milky Way. Man are they hard to find!

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Comment by Brad Dimock on June 3, 2010 at 10:21am
I'd check with the guy at Security Fasteners (below), or start searching for open-ended grommet nuts online. Best o' luck.
Comment by Jim Philpott on June 3, 2010 at 6:46am
I'm looking for some stainless "sex nuts"? Any thoughts? Thanks a bunch!!
Comment by Jeff Jennings on April 12, 2010 at 9:22am
That is a good looking finished product!
Comment by Dave Z on April 11, 2010 at 7:08pm
those are sexy.
Comment by Mike Baker on April 10, 2010 at 1:41pm
FYI Don't ever Google "Double Ender" either.
Nice touch Brad
Mike
Comment by Brad Dimock on April 10, 2010 at 10:43am
Reminds me of the search my friend did when we were building a lapstrake banks dory in Maine. I told him that in order to clamp the strakes to the ribs for riveting, we needed some clamps with a deep throat. He googled deep throat clamps and found lots of things, but no clamps.

If you want to avoid the thrill of googling sex nuts, try this guy:
http://www.securityfastener.com/
Ask for 1/4 x 20 sex nuts, or open-ended grommet nuts. They are a little under a buck apiece in quantity, but worth every penny in the labor they save, not to mention the sexy look.
Comment by Greg Hatten on April 10, 2010 at 10:36am
WOW... I really like the look of those sex nuts - not sure I'd want to go searching for them on google, however.
Well done Brad.
GH
Comment by Jason Knight on April 10, 2010 at 9:59am
Those look awesome... and the low profile is nice.

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