Lost rigging while sailing

nk235 · #1 (**permalink**) 04-09-2009

2 days ago I was responding to some posts on here about rigging and when to replace and even though mine is original it looks to be in excellent condition, etc., etc.....Well today I was moving my boat from its winter berth to be hauled out for a bottom job at a marina a few miles away. Raised the main, had a nice breeze, gorgeous day. Then as I was unfurling the jib I felt something weird and then as the sail was out noticed the backstay was very slack...turned out the furler which on my older hyde unit is the one and only headstay, parted from the mast! The halyard was the only thing holding everything up. Luckily we dropped all sail and continued under power to the marina where I had the boat hauled and a rigger take a look at everyting. Now I am going to have a new headstay and furler put on and am most likely going to replace everything.

Just thought it was ironic how not only 2 days ago I was asking about replacing my rigging...received my answer in a different way!

brak · #2 (**permalink**) 04-09-2009

yep, unfortunately as my experience had shown - brand new stuff is not immune from this. I had a just installed new forestay part on a very first day out (and not even under sail)

Bene505 · #3 (**permalink**) 04-09-2009

Glad it turned out ok.

The other thread is called: rig inspection diy or hire someone.

It wouldn't let me post the link because INSIDE THE LINK ADDRESS, it parsed the word rig <-- like it just did there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nk235

2 days ago I was responding to some posts on here about rigging and when to replace and even though mine is original it looks to be in excellent condition, etc., etc.....Well today I was moving my boat from its winter berth to be hauled out for a bottom job at a marina a few miles away. Raised the main, had a nice breeze, gorgeous day. Then as I was unfurling the jib I felt something weird and then as the sail was out noticed the backstay was very slack...turned out the furler which on my older hyde unit is the one and only headstay, parted from the mast! The halyard was the only thing holding everything up. Luckily we dropped all sail and continued under power to the marina where I had the boat hauled and a rigger take a look at everyting. Now I am going to have a new headstay and furler put on and am most likely going to replace everything.

Just thought it was ironic how not only 2 days ago I was asking about replacing my rigging...received my answer in a different way!

Maine Sail · #4 (**permalink**) 04-10-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by nk235

2 days ago I was responding to some posts on here about rigging and when to replace and even though mine is original it looks to be in excellent condition, etc., etc.....Well today I was moving my boat from its winter berth to be hauled out for a bottom job at a marina a few miles away. Raised the main, had a nice breeze, gorgeous day. Then as I was unfurling the jib I felt something weird and then as the sail was out noticed the backstay was very slack...turned out the furler which on my older hyde unit is the one and only headstay, parted from the mast! The halyard was the only thing holding everything up. Luckily we dropped all sail and continued under power to the marina where I had the boat hauled and a rigger take a look at everyting. Now I am going to have a new headstay and furler put on and am most likely going to replace everything.

Just thought it was ironic how not only 2 days ago I was asking about replacing my rigging...received my answer in a different way!

When we bought our current boat it had a Hyde Stream Stay. I never even let her in the water with it....she got a new Harken & standing rigging before I even launched...

Rigging is cheap compared to a new spar..

hellosailor · #5 (**permalink**) 04-10-2009

nk, new headstay, yes, but new furler? Might be overkill, bear in mind that depending on what furler you have, a set of new bearings, a couple of new pins, a new line, and you may have a perfectly effective total overhaul. The loads and failure modes (and potential consequences) aren't at all the same.

Long time ago, I got out to a boat I was crewing on early. Started cleaning up small stuff mainly to stay awake, and cleaned the wrapping off the forestay turnbuckle, only to find the pin holding it all together was just barely hanging in, cotter pin long gone. If I hadn't been early and bored, we might very well have lost the stick that day, or shortly after.

So as Dubyah, Chairman Mao, and a variety of other characters have said over the centuries, "Trust but verify". Just don't let it panic you into throwing out perfectly good gear simply because it is old.

Maine Sail · #6 (**permalink**) 04-10-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by hellosailor

nk, new headstay, yes, but new furler? Might be overkill, bear in mind that depending on what furler you have, a set of new bearings, a couple of new pins, a new line, and you may have a perfectly effective total overhaul. The loads and failure modes (and potential consequences) aren't at all the same.

Long time ago, I got out to a boat I was crewing on early. Started cleaning up small stuff mainly to stay awake, and cleaned the wrapping off the forestay turnbuckle, only to find the pin holding it all together was just barely hanging in, cotter pin long gone. If I hadn't been early and bored, we might very well have lost the stick that day, or shortly after.

So as Dubyah, Chairman Mao, and a variety of other characters have said over the centuries, "Trust but verify". Just don't let it panic you into throwing out perfectly good gear simply because it is old.

The Hyde furlers did not use a head stay. The stainless swivels were basically glued/epoxied/bonded onto a solid aluminum extrusion that acted as the head stay. Some of these Hyde's had the swivels come unglued from the extrusion.

celenoglu · #7 (**permalink**) 04-10-2009

Head stay failures are the most common ones. The general point is from the top of the mast. This is due to furlers. Te oscilation of the furler causes premature breaking of the head stay. changing only the head stay in this condition is enough. The other stays are generally safe to use.

sailingdog · #8 (**permalink**) 04-10-2009

Bene—

Use TINYURL.COM to convert the links to a form that the keyword autolinking engine won't screw up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bene505

Glad it turned out ok.

The other thread is called: rig inspection diy or hire someone.

It wouldn't let me post the link because INSIDE THE LINK ADDRESS, it parsed the word rig <-- like it just did there.

sailingdog · #9 (**permalink**) 04-10-2009

Relying on an adhesive for something that is cycling under tension isn't all that great a design idea... what exactly were they thinking???

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maine Sail

The Hyde furlers did not use a head stay. The stainless swivels were basically glued/epoxied/bonded onto a solid aluminum extrusion that acted as the head stay. Some of these Hyde's had the swivels come unglued from the extrusion.

tommays · #10 (**permalink**) 04-10-2009

They were thinking the same thing that all the people glueing carbon tubes into bike frames were at the time

Or Peugeot with the Pechiney frames that fell apart

""The frames tubes, seat, top, down and all 4 stays were joined to the lugs without a bonding agent or without welds. Peugeot called it the 'Pechiney' process. Quote form the catalogue "The assembly of the frame is performed with a special, patented technique that fits the tubes into the lugs without the use of any bonding process such as welding or glue."

Which is to say they were NOT thinking