Dismasting

Today was a gorgeous day for sailing solo in my Tiger. Winds ten knots or so. I was out on the wire as I find it more relaxing than staying on deck.

As I was coming in from the wire in preparation for entering the cove where my cabin is, the shroud beside me came undone.
This is not the first dismasting I have had on my Tiger.
The first one might have been an act of negligence. It happened when I was away from the boat.

So I started wrapping all rings and pins with electric tape. Then this happened today. I am totally mystified.
I suspect vandalism but am not positive.
In the meantime I am trying to figure out a bulletproof way of ensuring that bolts and pins and shackles do not come undone. Electric tape is not the answer.
The only thing that I can think is to do the same thing that our aircraft mechanics do and use stainless steel wire ties on the pins, shackles and bolts. The method is to put the wire through the (ring) hole and then twist the two ends of the wire together so it is like a braid and then attach it to something and then twist it again. Then cover with tape. If a heavy wire is used, it is as safe as you can get. Also bolts with locking nylon nuts. (nylocks)

Any other ideas?
(My H14 has never dismasted in probably 6 years of yeoman service... Darn thing is bulletproof, hugely fun, rugged, NO maintenance, in fact I feel so guilty about doing nothing with it that I painted it and put a Dolphin striker and upgraded the traveller. All these were just my ego being certain that you can improve on perfection.)

Safety wire will do the job. It's also easy to see if it's been tampered with. Make sure and use safety wire pliers so you can twist it easily.

Safety wire leaves a pigtail that is razor sharp plus you have to drill holes to lockwire through. Bolts with Nylocks are reliable but using a threadlocking compound such as locktite on shackle pins would also work.

Dropped my mast two days ago on a beautiful gentle day. First time in 15 years.... no damage and excellent practice but it was negligence.... a pin came undone... not doing basic checks at sensible intervals with mast up storage.... only one hour of sailing earlier I was flying a hull and only just holding on out past islands with no one in sight....another lesson learned.

Darryn
I thought about Locktite but figured it would wash out.

I plan to cover the pigtails with tape.

Am very lucky it didn't happen out on the wire, wind was light, my satellite phone (girlfriend bought it for me... what sweetheart <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />) allowed me to call up my buddy (motorboat) to save me paddling, what little wind there was was a quartering tailwind.

Had a hard time taking the mainsail down (in <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />). Had to do it when I drifted into shore at one point. I used the opportunity to put the mast on the deck with about 4 feet of it forward of the mast base.
Biggest difficulty was all the wires and ropes tangled up in rudders, grabbing rocks etc.. Also the endpole snuffer dragged in the water picking up a load which made paddling difficult and pulled the nose under when being towed.

Was an excellent reality check! Maybe I will cobble up a checklist...

Worst part was my two buddies now have somethin on me. Nobody sees me screamin downwind with the spi in full bloom, but one little mast I drop... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Once you get good at using safety wire you'll learn to bend the tails back so they don't snag anything. You can buy V-shaped jigs for drilling holes. If you've got a decent sized airport nearby you can buy AN grade nuts and bolts that are already set up for safety wire.

Even with the lockwire tails bent back on themselves it is still very easy to cut yourself, especially with wet soft skin and the coatings the lockwire picks up during manufacturing slows coagulation.

Good luck finding stainless AN bolts.

The shackles I have have the holes drilled.

AN (Army /Navy specification US) bolts don't rust and are coated for anti corrosion. Am not sure of their shear strength compared to stainless though.

The shroud base has a plastic sleeve that fits over it so that would preclude cutting myself on my boat. However in other areas the wire would have to be covered with something.

Any ideas on re-raising the mast?

AN bolts are commonly available in cadmium-plated nickel steel, corrosion resistant steel (not marine grade) and aluminium alloy, which you wouldn't use. They all will corrode. The cad plated steel screws are the most common and corrode the quickest, you may get away with it in fresh water for a while, seems like you would be downgrading your Tiger by fitting them though.

You could tape the tail of the lockwire or heatshrink it which would be neater.

Maybe you should look into a threadlocking compound, they really are very good.

Why not use the 2ml trap cord. The yellow stuff that has no coat. Ties very well, uv proof and I have used in in many similar circumstances.

I long ago switched out all infrequently removed clevis pins with stainless pan head screws with ESN lock nuts. I did it because they are way less 'snaggy' than clevis pins and cotter rings. But it turns out they NEVER loosen, either.

On the shackles, NEVER buy the cheap no-name shackles for use on your boat. Just don't do it! Buy those nice pricey French made shackles with the max load stamped on them, I forget the brand. Not only are they made of stronger metal, but the slip side (the non-threaded opening for the pin) Has four corners instead of being just a plain round hole. So as you tighten the pin, the corners engage the sides of the pin, and do so progressivley more strongly as you tighten, so that these shackles are 'self saftied' and never loosen on their own. I have noticed that after a hard day of sailing with a cheap no-name shackle on the mainsheet blocks that the shackle pin will always bend a little. I found this a bit alarming and is the reson I swore off the cheap stuff. The French made shackles do not bend on the mainsheet.

Jimbo

I tape the rings, and then I tape the taped rings to the shroud plate an d then I put the plastic shieves you get on Nacra boats over the shroud plate.

See this here by my right foot:

Which Locktite would be appropriate?

They are called "Wichard". Rick carries them. http://store.catsailor.com/tek9.asp?pg=products&grp=279&mode=massorder

What are ESN lock nuts?

Blue...maybe red (but red is probably a little too permanant - use red on things like traveler hardware and things). Green is for things you don't ever want to get apart again.

You know, a LOT of boats do just fine by taping their rings and pins without any issue. IMHO, it's a system that works just fine if you have good quality rings and inspect them occasionally (as with anything). I've gone thousands of trouble free miles and several years with it.

echo what Jake says.... likewise we just tape out fittings, inspect them regularly and never have a problem.

Only dismasting we've had was due to a hound failure at the forestay connection. This is resolved using plastic spacers on the shackle.

Not sure I understand. You mean you use plastic spacers (plastic washers) on the shackle between the various connections? ie 3 stays and trap wires? Did the top of the forestay wear out from chafing?

the hound plate itself wore out because of the friction of the shackle sliding back and forth.

We put plastic washers on the shackle "shaft" to keep the hound plate in the middle of the shaft and thus stop the chaffing.

Use delrin rod to make your own. Very easy. They work great.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delrin

What he says. Had exactly the same experience myself.

Tiger Mike

Negative - that hound (Nacra / Inters) doesn't wear from friction. Even with spacers taking up all the slack, the hound opening will elongate just from the repeated cycle stress (waves, sheeting, etc). My F18 looks similar as well - neither are anywhere near failure but they are showing the same stress even with the spacers. The hound material is simply a little too thin to last a 'lifetime' and the hound will need to be replaced occasionally (at the first sign of cracking of the bottom weld).

I put the spacers in to A) keep the shackle from slipping over and pinching the spinnaker halyard leading to a jam or a chaffed spin halyard and B) eliminate a concern-provoking, "I'm 10 miles offshore and something sounds like it's going to break", POP/BANG as the shackle settles on every other jibe.

ESN = elastomeric stop nut

Image:

http://www.parts4pinballs.com/images/products/m/W4410-01132-00.jpg

Alright, why not just check the darn things prior to sailing each time? If you wrap them with tape then you hide the crap you are supposed to be checking. Just check each time, you use wire then you start cutting stuff (what is this about something used in the manufacturing process that inhibits coagulation? if so, figure out what it is and you could make millions in the pharmaceutical market). sorry, just check them like you check to make sure the plugs are in, etc.

all deployment and no sailing makes PTP pissed!

forget that, I just checked all my cans of lockwire and have researched it some more, no warnings, a hangover from the old days, stab yourself with lockwire all you want, the blood will coagulate. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I did some checking of my pins and shackles etc. and noticed that the shackles I had used for my port and stbd shrouds were too small. The remaining pin was a bit loose and was probably headed the same direction as the failed one. So I replaced with larger shackles.
Season is almost over so I will probably get the Wichard ones this winter. The few bucks is worth the peace of mind, especially in an area that ropes are around and potential for damage is higher. I was lucky that day. If the wind had been stronger, I would be facing the purchase of another boat as it would have been trashed on the rocks.

I checked out the mast while it was down and noticed that I had put some pins on the spreader upside down... They should be pointed (ring) down so if the ring came off it would remain in place. An aircraft mechanic friend of mine once told me that bolts or pins should be down, back or in.

On my H14 I use AN steel bolts with ESNs. There is some minor corrosion after 6 years, however I will replace with SS and ESNs. I also noted that the hound plate hole on my H14 is elongated so I will replace. Thanks jake.

Oh... and I also taped up all the rest of the rings and pins and put Locktite on the shackles.