SailNet Community banner
  • SailNet is a forum community dedicated to Sailing enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about sailing, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, repairs, reviews, maintenance, and more!

Idea for turnbuckle cotter pins

17K views 51 replies 16 participants last post by  Sanduskysailor 
#1 · (Edited)
How to secure cotter pins in turnbuckles seems to evoke a range of advice.
Most people insert the cotter pin. bend the legs back and cover with rigger tape.
Some people say the tape encourages crevice corrosion and makes them hard to inspect. They recommend to tape but bending the legs back and around far enough so they will not catch on sails.

I just saw another way.
The sailor had a piece of Velcro about 6" long and 3/4" wide. Pushed through the end of Velcro and the head sewn in with sailor's thread was fixed a cotter pin. The legs were left straight.
The way it was used is that the pin is put in the turnbuckle hole. The Velcro was wrapped around the turnbuckle. The pin could not fall out due to the circle of Velcro. It was loose enough to drain water. It is easy to remove to inspect.
What do you think?
 
#38 ·
"I wonder why we have some people reporting that rings catch sheets and some do not.You ring catchers, is it possible you are using a spring type ring (Just 1.5 wraps of wire) instead of the split ring type (like a key chain)?"
Precisely. It was the spring type and on a boat that had just been purchased and launched. We replaced all the rings when we got back to the dock and reinspected the rig. Lesson learned.

Well - Sandusky has done a couple Macs from what I've read. So I'll listen to him. I'd call that first-hand experience.
17 MACS in fact.

My previous boat had forward lowers. We used the wrap pins on these also and never had one come off through numerous tacks dragging a large genoa around them.
 
#41 ·
"Okay - but I guess you know what the REAL question is....how many of those did you win?"
The sad answer is 0. 2nd once and 3rd several times. Extremely difficult race to win. Classes are usually 12-20 boats. 7 of these races in the 70s class where the competition and equipment is first rate. That is me steering in the pic.
 

Attachments

#44 ·
To weigh in here on some of this:
-Tying the turnbuckles together does not work as the threaded stud on the shroud end of the turnbuckle is free to loosen and the windings of the wire rigging will provide the force to loosen it.

- Sanduskysailor is absolutely right that Ring dings can in fact get snagged and pulled out by flailing rigging, and it surprising how quickly a stud will unwind from a turnbuckle, at the very least loosing the stay and at the worst allowing the stay to come undone. That said I have used them for years and only seen that happen a couple times. If I sailed in an area where the conditions were routinely windy and the chop worse (like San Francisco) I would not use ring-dings. Here on the Chesapeake they work well enough but as I write this I am thinking that I have procastinated too long in making up a set of PVC turnbuckle covers.

-While I have used ring dings for years to keep the turnbuckle from turning, I haved always used cotter pins in the clevis pins.

- Have also sailed on boats that had the velco wrap pins. This really is a good product for a one design boats like a J-22 (although J-22's around here seem to use tubular turnbuckles with locknuts a set-up that I don't especially like for a bigger boat) or J-105 where rig tension is important and gets changed with some degree of frequency.

-I don't think that velcro wrap pins, ring-dings or cotter pind make much of difference once the rig comes down. Jettisoning a rig is a bear, but trying to un-turn a turnbuckle after the rig comes down gets nearly imposible. Whether you cut off a ring-ding, cotter key or a wrapped cotter, that is the least of the problem. The nearly impossible part is turning loose the turnbuckle body. I had to do this on a Folkboat with the stub of mast threatening to pierce the planking and it was incredibly difficult. I cannot begin to imagine backing off a turnbuckle with the rig down on a bigger boat.

The standard advice for offshore cruisers is to carry big enough bolt cutters to sheer off the standing rigging, but if you have ever tried to sheer a heavy peice of rigging wire even with a very high quality bolt cutter it is not exactly like slicing butter. Add to that the impossible motion of a sailboat without its rig, I am not sure that there is a good solution for a good size boat to jetison its rig quickly.

Respectfully,
Jeff
 
#47 ·
-This really is a good product for a one design boats like a J-22 or J-105 where rig tension is important and gets changed with some degree of frequency.
Thanks Jeff for backing me and repeating what I said three days ago. You too Sandusky.

Also popular with the racing crowd that adjust and tune a lot.
Sandusky, you ever do the Supermac?
Twice as much fun from what I understand.
 
#49 ·
the shroud turnbuckles have locknuts on my 30 footer. i use the split rings with several turns in them on the bottom end at the chain plates and they work OK. has any one had this type come loose ?
 
#50 ·
I fully confess to not using the product and going with the fact that everything Velcro i have ever owned has had issues with staying closed within 6 months of regular use and has turned many otherwise fine pieces of gear useless
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top