Metric Hardware

[osprey877]

Steveston Marine have a good selection of metric nuts and bolts etc. and I suspect they will know where to find what you're looking for if they don't have it in stock.

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

McMaster Carr has a good selection of metric fasteners in 304 and 316 stainless. Not sure they deliver to Canada though. Prices are okay, service is fast.

Apologies. I see you've already tried McMasterCarr. US Stainless and E-Rigging have been good sources for me. Uncertain about metric though.

[ABJ87]

Did you try emailing mc master carr? They don’t always include the vendors full lineup on their website.

Misumi while expensive, has semi custom options where a pin dia,length and material is machined to your specifications.

[maine50]

The "Nutty Co" in Milford, Ct. has metric fasteners. They ship world wide.

[Tedd]

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts on this. I want to reiterate that basic metric fasteners, per se, aren't an issue. As many of you have pointed out, there are any number of places I can get those, including a Marina so close I can see it from the roof of my house. It's less common metric components that you might find in sailboat rigging that are the challenge, such as a specific size or style of clevis pin, a turnbuckle, or some other bit of metric hardware not available from typical industrial suppliers or North American marine suppliers.

[MicHughV]

well, in that case, you may find that it is time to bite the bullet and get a completely new, eg, turnbuckle in imperial size that matches your requirements, or gets as near as damnit to it. Most turnbuckle selections, etc are usually done with a safety factor in mind.
So if your metric piece has a 5:1 safety factor, but the nearest imperial piece has a 4.9:1 S.F. you will likely be okay.
Conversely, if your metric pin requirement is 12 mm in size, a half inch pin would be 12.7 mm.
So just go from there...

[deblen]

For those that are not bilingual:


MM to Inch Chart.pdf

[Tedd]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

Why the USA has not gone metric defies explanation.

I agree that it's becoming bizarre that the general U.S. population is dragging its feet so much on the metric system.

But the U.S. was, I think, the first anglophone country to become officially metric. It's just that they define "officially metric" differently than everyone else. In other countries, "officially metric" means that people are coerced by the power of law to adopt the metric system. In the U.S. it simply means that the U.S. government has standardized on the metric system and (with qualifications) if you want to do business with them you do it in metric. They haven't arrogated to themselves the authority to tell everyone else how to measure. There's a part of me that respects that.

Also, it has been the case for decades that many leading U.S. companies operate in metric. (I've worked for some of them.)

[MicHughV]

well, some things never change...a 2 by 4 is still a 2 by 4 regardless of being metric or imperial. in fact, it's not even a 2 by 4.....it's a 1 3/4" x 3 3/4" or more accurately a 45 mm x 95 mm....can you see someone saying hand me that 45 x 95.....simply would not happen

I can relate to a car doing 100 mph.....whereas a car doing 160 kph is mostly a meaningless number to me.....

[wholybee]

There is an interesting situation here in the US. Most things actually are metric. Human weight, driving speed, and linear distance in everyday usage are not. But even those in any scientific or engineering use are metric.

The really confusing part is this. Every freaking car sold in the US is metric. Almost every nut, bolt and screw used on anything in the US is metric. Far more "things" in the US are metric than SAE. But walk into a store and ask for a metric wrench or a metric bolt, and you are met with dumb looks. It isn't that we are not metric here, we totally are. It just is that we deny the fact that we are metric.

[wholybee]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

well, some things never change...a 2 by 4 is still a 2 by 4 regardless of being metric or imperial. in fact, it's not even a 2 by 4.....it's a 1 3/4" x 3 3/4" or more accurately a 45 mm x 95 mm....can you see someone saying hand me that 45 x 95.....simply would not happen

I can relate to a car doing 100 mph.....whereas a car doing 160 kph is mostly a meaningless number to me.....

I had the experience of buying a "two by four" in New Zealand. I have no idea what it was called. It is not a 2x4. The dimensions are not 2x4, or 45x95, or even the same aspect. It wasn't called a stud, or a joist. The yard manager let me go in the back and pick it myself as I was unable to communicate my need to him.

So, I have to disagree. A 2x4 most definitely is a US standard thing, that does not exist in metric.

[wholybee]

Originally Posted by Tedd

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts on this. I want to reiterate that basic metric fasteners, per se, aren't an issue. As many of you have pointed out, there are any number of places I can get those, including a Marina so close I can see it from the roof of my house. It's less common metric components that you might find in sailboat rigging that are the challenge, such as a specific size or style of clevis pin, a turnbuckle, or some other bit of metric hardware not available from typical industrial suppliers or North American marine suppliers.

I wonder if you could call one of the hardware manufactures, wichard, ronstan, etc. and see if they make them, just they are not distributed here.

When I was in New Zealand, I needed a new pelican hook for my lifelines. They had the same hook, same brand, but metric threads. So, it might just be a matter of finding what manufacturer from which a local shop can order the metric version part from.

[cyan]

If you have an old timer rocket scientist in your family, you might have heard this one. There are two types of countries: those that use the metric system, and those that have landed men on the moon.

On the bright side, since the US uses both metric and US Customary, we yanks get to own twice the number of tools versus everyone else, and he who dies with the most tools wins. (Pretty sure.)

Now, if only sailors could stop using nautical miles and convert to proper kilometers...

[s/v Jedi]

Not sure what sizes you are looking for but Amazon has metric clevis pins.

[Lisa_2022]

Originally Posted by Tedd

I'm in Canada and I have a Polish-built boat that I sometimes have trouble finding metric hardware for. Does anyone have any suggestions where to look? Any business in the U.S. can usually ship to Canada or, if not, I'm just across the border so I can have it shipped to a receiver in the U.S. and bring it across the border myself.

I'm currently looking for a particular metric, stainless steel clevis pin. I've tried the usual marine supply places, plus McMaster-Carr and every other U.S. and Canadian source I can find, and none have the specific pin I'm looking for. But I expect this will be an ongoing problem so I'm not actually looking for help with this specific part, but rather suggestions for metric hardware, in general. A UK or European source that can ship to Canada or the U.S. would be fine.

Hey, try www.svb.de they ship averywhere in the World and the Dollar is strong against the Euro that will make up for the shipping.
V.K.