A fine idea.

"SAIL LOCO" wrote ...

I drilled and tapped proper sized
holes in a 5' long piece of 1/2" x 1/2" aluminum bar stock and placed it
inside
the boom. Now those machine screws have much more meat to get a grip on
and
the 5' length really spreads the load. We've done a couple of auto jibes
in
big winds on downwind legs with nothing breaking since then.