Enjoying a nice afternoon sail with my son yesterday. Heard some groaning sounds....unusual for my Mac though very common for my older Pearson 323. Probably so used to the sound that I didn't respond as quickly as I should have. Suddenly a starboard shroud sprang loose and the mast went down, twisted at the bottom and bent near the middle. Quite a shock and I hope it never happens to any of you.
Quite odd that it happened just now as this coming weekend I was planning on taping the clevis pin O rings that hide under my shroud covers. So......I advise everyone to do just that without delay. I found the culprit O-ring on the top of the starboard rub-rail. Apparently, it had just worked itself loose as it was not badly sprung. I think I will replace these with 1/16" cotter pins and tape.
Very thankful it didn't happen in a bad storm and in an outlying location. As it was, I was able to remove rigging and save the sails. I was able to tow the bent mast back the five miles to my marina. All of the shrouds are intact but spreader wasted.
Dan - call your nearest dealer ASAP and find out when their next shipment of boats are coming/shipping - you can probably save a bundle on a new mast getting it shipped with a new boat....
Wow , happy to hear no one was hurt . I try to check all my standing rigging everytime out. Primarily because I tow the boat on the trailer a short distance to the ramp with the mast up. I thought I was being a little paranoid, guess not
This is the kind of post you just never want to hear. I already taped the rings on the shrouds,and i have boots on the shroud bases,but I think the cotter pin idea would give me a little more peace of mind.
Now if there was a better setup than the clevis pin ring ding arrangement for the furler base on the M. Those little ring dings just scare me.
I don't think I have ever closely inspected my shrouds and rigging - - - although my dealer has. Now I have put a reminder in my phone to make a weekly inspection of everything I can - - - especially if it has a pin Sorry about your ordeal - - - glad no one got hurt - - - thanks for the reminder!
eric3a wrote:Wonder if a jib sheet caught the ring ding at some point?
Lucky no one was hurt and no further damage.
Eric
How coincidental. This exact thing happened to me during my 5.5 hour sail this afternoon. Port jib sheet caught in the ring ding and bent it all to $%&#. I believe the cotter pins and white first aid tape is the solution. I had black electrical tape on them but it did not prevent the problem.
Even though it is much harder to do, I have always put my ring dings on the inside of the chain plates. I have a genoa so my sheets are always outside of the shrouds. I also have shroud covers which combined with this make it nearly impossible for a sheet to grab a ring ding.
I wouldn't want taped up ring dings. I want to see everything, I've heard too many stories of un-seen corrosion under taped turnbuckles and cotter pins. I also remove the rig at least once (or more) during a season for mastless trips. Messing with tape would be too much trouble .
Duane Dunn, Allegro wrote:Even though it is much harder to do, I have always put my ring dings on the inside of the chain plates .
Yes, that's what i do. This weekend I found another rigging failure, but no mishap. I was rethreading a new halyard, and found the 3/8" nut holding the movable spreaders to their yoke was missing. it was an easy fix but could have been disastrous. It's unfortunate that the best self-discipline to inspect seems to follow failures. how do you guys thread those dropped halyards? any secrets besides lowering the mast?
I've always put my ring-dings on the inside, too. I also have a set of shroud covers - white not clear - they are just PVC tubing with little caps that go around the shroud and then pop into the top of the PVC. Every time I go out I have the habit of sliding the shroud covers up and looking at the pins/adjusters under there.
As John B says, they also help to keep the adjusters lined up and un-kinked during mast-raising.
Sloop John B wrote:
Don't use ring dings that you're used to. Use 'key chain' dings. You know, the kind you have to split open with a pen knife to get another key onto.
So what's the verdict here......? Original ring dings, key chain ring dings or clevis pins?
Glad everyone abord is safe and thanks for making us all think about our rigging.
[quote="dannyboy"]
Quite odd that it happened just now as this coming weekend I was planning on taping the clevis pin O rings that hide under my shroud covers. So......I advise everyone to do just that without delay. I found the culprit O-ring on the top of the starboard rub-rail. Apparently, it had just worked itself loose as it was not badly sprung. I think I will replace these with 1/16" cotter pins and tape.
Could someone explain the technique for "taping the clevis pin O rings under the shroud covers" in a little more detail? I'm not following what you are saying, and apparently it's pretty important to take care of the problem. - What do you tape the O-rings to, or is the tape simply drawn around the stay, and what kind of tape should be used. What problems do the O-rings cause if not taped? Also, why should we have to take care of the problem in the first place (e.g., why didn't MacGregor take care of this matter or at least warn us about the problem, since apparently it could cause substantial difficulties when under sail)?
I just taped all my rings on last week. After your post I'm going to double check them. I remember once sailing my Mac 25 at night and I heard something hitting the side of the boat. I shined the light on the low side and there was a shroud just dangling; the pin had somehow worked loose. It's a good thing we were on that tack or my mast probably would have gone. I had to fix it quick before we had to tack again!
, happy to hear no one was hurt 
. I try to check all my standing rigging everytime out. Primarily because I tow the boat on the trailer a short distance to the ramp with the mast up. I thought I was being a little paranoid, guess not
- they are just PVC tubing with little caps that go around the shroud and then pop into the top of the PVC. Every time I go out I have the habit of sliding the shroud covers up and looking at the pins/adjusters under there.