Question
| Sailboat Rigging & Hardware Experts:, |  |
Mast pumping in port on Catalina 36 tall rig, 1993 model. It seems to be getting worse and in lighter winds. Do I need to relax the backstays, tighten the forward lowers, or is it just a fact of life?
Don | |
| Don | |
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Answer
| Don, | |
Mast pumping is most often seen in marinas, with the wind more or less abeam. It has to do with vortices shedding on the leeward side of the mast, and how that relates to the mast's moments of inertia. If that is your problem, there are some nifty solutions, like hoisting a fender on a main halyard, with a downhaul, to somewhere around mid-mast usually, to break up the vortices.
If you are experiencing pumping under way, then things are more serious. Pumping, either in the marina or under way, is not very responsive to changes in tune, but a sufficiently awful tune can encourage it. How is the boat tuned now? Give me more details on when the problem is happening, and what the state of the tune is, and I'll try to come up with a prescription.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss | |
| Sailboat Rigging & Hardware Experts: | |
8/16/2009
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Question
| Sailboat Rigging & Hardware Experts:, | |
TEST QUESTION - Please let me know when you receive email notification.
thanks,
Sonja | |
| Jon | |
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Answer
| Jon, | |
Hi Sonja -- Picked up your note after logging on - I had not gotten an email regarding your note ?
Brooks - 305 632-0298
address appears to be correct in the field ?
but no coming email at this time ?
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| Sailboat Rigging & Hardware Experts: | |
8/18/2009
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Question
| Sailboat Rigging & Hardware Experts:, | |
| I have a 1981 Catalina 38. I had the wire rigging replaced recently, and some of the new stays show stripes of what appears to be small rusty wire wound in. Is this acceptable or should I have the effected stays replaced? | |
| Robert | |
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Answer
| Robert, | |
Hi Robert,
Standing rigging wire is usually made from 19 strands wrapped in a special machine. Individual strands are drawn from rod down to the proper size by passing through dies. Then spools of the strands are put on wire rope forming machines where they are preformed and wrapped into the finished product. An individual strand can start to rust because it has picked up surface contamination from the machinery as it is being drawn and formed.
These would be iron contamination on the surface of the strand that start to oxidize when exposed to the salt air and moisture. You could closely inspect the individual strand that is rusting and see if you can wipe off the rust. If you can wipe it off and the surface under the rust is bright and smooth with no pitting you can be assured that the strength has not been affected by this rust. This does not look good but it will look better over time as the contamination can be cleaned or just allowed to dissipate over time from the natural action of rain.
Another cause of this barber poling discoloration would occur in the case where a different alloy spool of strand was loaded on the forming machine. This will cause a very stark difference between the non-stainless (or different alloy) and the other strands of stainless wire of the same alloy. In many cases it would be best to replace the rigging as the rust is coming from the poor quality steel itself and can lead to an early loss of strength from broken strands due to rust.
Differences in degree of magnetism can also help to assess the quality of the wire rope and the individual strands.
I suggest that you contact your rigger that installed this rigging for his help in determining the course to take. He will check with his supplier and take a close look at his current stock. Quality of stainless steel is much better in recent years and most suppliers are selling type 316 quality stainless steel after some bad experiences with low quality type 302/304 alloys. In our shop we track our wire from our supplier/manufacturer to the end user and we know exactly where each batch has originated. The manufacturer can also many times supply detailed certificates of quality as to alloy and tensile strength as quality is tested for individual master spools.
I am interested in how your problem will be assessed and how it is handled. If possible keep in touch as this one of those crucial aspects of value and quality in the rigging business from supplier to the sailor.
Brooks Paul Jones for Sailing Services, Inc. brooks@saillingservices.com
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| Sailboat Rigging & Hardware Experts: | |
8/23/2009
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Question
| Sailboat Rigging & Hardware Experts:, | |
| I have had some serious electrolosis and must replace some through-hull fittings . What is your opinion of Marlon ? Is there a material other than bronze which is suitable for through- hull fixtures ? | |
| Frederick | |
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Answer
| Frederick, | |
Not a rigging question -- but I think you could check out
http://www.forespar.com/MarelonPlumbing/marelonAbout.shtml
Forespar makes the fitting from Marelon.
Forespar has a lot of experience in this market and in my personal experience is that it is a great solution. It has been out for a while and not a brand new product.
Brooks for Sailing Services - the Rigging Specialists
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| Sailboat Rigging & Hardware Experts: | |
8/27/2009
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Question
| Sailboat Rigging & Hardware Experts:, | |
I have a 25' Catalina, about 30 years old. It came with a cable tension guage. I am wondering what ft/lps would the cables be tensioned up to? I tried googling the handbook but to no avail. Also the eye bolts and plates for the guy wires are deck mounted. Out side of stubbing toes, are there any other advantages to deck mounting hard ware. The wife and kids like to sit on the bow while sailing. I am considering moving chainplates to the sides of the boat.
btw - I apprecieate advice... espically free advice. I took note of running all halyards to the cockpit. It has made solo sailing a 25' a breeze.
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| John | |
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Answer
| John, | |
Hi there,
Quite a list of questions. To start with tuning, I could say that the lowers need to be about 10% of break strength, and the uppers, jibstay, and backstay 15 to 20%, but tuning isn't just about tightening. It isn't an arcane mystery, but it does require thought. And in any event, you simply can't tune wire to ft/lbs of force. So I'd recommend getting to know the subject better, with something like Selden's free tuning guide, or my not-free DVD on the subject.
As for the eyebolts and plates, I fear that it is more of the same, with some education needed on your part before I can give a meaningful answer. Moving the chainplates is not something to be undertaken lightly.
Having said that, I hope I can take some of the sting out my response by congratulating you on wanting to be involved with your rig -- it is too rare.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss | |
| Sailboat Rigging & Hardware Experts: | |
9/6/2009
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Question
| Sailboat Rigging & Hardware Experts:, | |
In the use of a fire extingushers, what does the second S stand for in PASS? P: pull pin, A: aim at base of fire, S: sweep back and forth. S: ?????? I'm writing a safety report for my local US Power Squadron.
Thank You
Tom Sample
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| Thomas | |
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Answer
| Thomas, | |
# How To Attack A Fire
# PASS Technique (Pull,Aim,Squeeze,Sweep)
# Team Firefighting
# Effectiveness of Different Types of Extinguishers
# Realization of Discharge Times and Range
from an internet search --
here is one of several links that showed up -
can we assume that this is the correct answer ?
http://www.reliablefire.com/portablesfolder/extinguishertraining.html
Brooks | |
| Sailboat Rigging & Hardware Experts: | |
9/8/2009
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Question
| Sailboat Rigging & Hardware Experts:, | |
He, I have a Sailboat C&C 34 1980 the riggings is rode I like to change to to standard rigging the rod ringing is number 8 and number 6 for the change to standard rigging what is the side to worked in standard.
8 mn¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿. to 5/16 in
6 mn ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿.to 1/4 in
Thanks
Miguel
Thanks
Miguel Occttaviani
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| Miguel | |
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Answer
| Miguel, | |
The "8" in the rod size is not 8mm, but a dimension Navtec uses in-house. The strength of that rod corresponds roughly to 1,000 pound increments of strength. To make a conversion to wire, you'd need to run the numbers, based on the actual strength of the wire you'd be using, and probably err on the high side, to avoid losing too much performance. But if I were you, I'd stay with rod for this boat, partly because the boat will notice the difference, and partly because the conversion would very likely be more a a headache in tang, spreader, and turnbuckle issues, than you could possibly believe.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss | |
| Sailboat Rigging & Hardware Experts: | |
9/30/2009
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Question
| Sailboat Rigging & Hardware Experts:, | |
| I have a 14 year old Catalina 400 with clanging internal halyards. Sleep is difficult. Is there a simple fix? Carl Salsbury | |
| Carl | |
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Answer
| Carl, | |
It is unusual for internal halyards to clang, especially if you tighten them; are you sure that you don't have loose wiring, or a loose conduit in the mast? If it is the halyards, it is possible that they are oversized and/or too elastic; what size and construction are they now?
Fair leads,
Brion Toss | |
| Sailboat Rigging & Hardware Experts: | |
9/30/2009
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Question
| Sailboat Rigging & Hardware Experts:, | |
Hello,
We have a 7 year old Hunter 460 and are planning a Trans Pacific. A friend had the standing rigging "checked / tested" by professional riggers before only to lose a mast within days!
On the H460 the lower terminals on shrouds have been replaced with Stalocks.
Which methods would you recommend to test the strength and integrity of the rig? I have read a little about electronic testing. Would you recommend it? Short of recommendations would you please point me in the right direction for further research?
Many thanks
Christian | |
| Christian | |
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Answer
| Christian, | |
Oy,
Most riggers, in my experience, are lousy at rig survey; simply being good at fabrication doesn't necessarily mean that you have the inductive and deductive skills to assess a rig's condition. Still, it's hard to know from here what they missed. Did the wires break first, or something else? Most dismastings have to do with support structures like chainplates, spreaders, mast base, and the mast itself, so those places need to be checked at least as thoroughly as the wires and terminals.
Electronic testing (or X-rays, or die-penetrant) can find flaws that aren't obvious to the naked eye, but they also tend to focus our experience onto specifics that may have nothing to do with existing problems. What you need, in my opinion, is an actual rig surveyor; where is the boat? PM me if you'd like.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss | |
| Sailboat Rigging & Hardware Experts: | |
9/30/2009
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Question
| Sailboat Rigging & Hardware Experts:, | |
From the Venture Sailing Assn. of Long Beach area in California. In order to quiet our halyards when mooring, we usually bungee the halyards to the shrouds. One of our members was told there is a term for this called "GILL GUYING" using a "GILL GUY" Have you ever heard of this term, or is it something someone made up?? I've looked in every nautical dictionary I could find and could not find this term. It could make sense if you thought that the shrouds were kind if pulled out from the mast as if a fishes gills were spread.
Lawrence X. Johnson
windsprint@verizon.net | |
| Lawrence | |
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Answer
| Lawrence, | |
Brooks at Sailing Services in Miami is not familiar with this term.
I asked around the office here and the term is "unknown" in our group of sailors.
The practice deserves a name but the "Gill" fish connection is a stretch?
(no pun intended)
You could coin your own word? How about "Butterfly" the halyards.
Fair Winds, Brooks
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| Sailboat Rigging & Hardware Experts: | |
10/13/2009
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