Warning watch re-rigging

[davidpm]

The captain I sail with bought a Catalina 27 on which the previous owner had changed the mainsheet attachment. The original design has three connections to the boom. He changed it to just a center connection. There was a slight bend to the boom about an inch.
We asked about it of course and both the salesman and the surveyor made it seem like it was no big deal.
Well a couple of weeks ago we jibed in about 15knots while reefed. It wasn’t a perfect jibe but it wasn’t uncontrolled either just a little sloppy. The boom bent in half.
In hind site if you change something on a production boat like a C,H or B to make it less strong, life is not likely to treat you well. It’s not like these boats are overbuilt so if Catalina decided they needed three attachments for the mainsheet to the boom and you change it to one expect something bad to happen.
We listened to the experts instead of using common sense.
The rule is always go for stronger not weaker.

[sailingdog]

Well... mid-boom sheeting always puts more stress on the boom than end-boom sheeting, and point loading it at a single point is pretty dumb. Generally, if you have a hunch or something looks wrong... you should generally go with it... hunches are usually based on something.

I hope your friend got the "its no big deal" in writing from the surveyor or salesman...because they owe your friend.

[davidpm]

Franky I have my doubts about the survey business. About a month after we started sailing the boat the wheel steering idler wheels fell off. They were completely rusted. Granted they are in a difficult place on the c27 they were completely missed. Then the boom of course.

[wallybygolly]

Watching the rigger huh? Well, I was crewing on a Cheoy Lee 42 in Seattle. We yanked out all the orginal chainplates and inspection showed them to be in great shape. Put the mast back on and had a rigger come out to tune the rig. He recommended replacing this piece of steel turnbuckle that looked orginal for the backstay. The owner reluctanly agreed because we were sailing to Hawaii and beyond. 2 Day out of Seattle, run into a gale...guess what? That brand new piece of steel snaps like a twig and the mast cracks in half.

[CharlieCobra]

Yep, stainless ain't stainless anymore. Too many poorly made knockoffs out there these days.

[sailingdog]

Name brand is a good idea on plain stainless...since it is at least a bit of a guarantee of quality.