BANG! goes the turnbuckle

Listmates: I ignored the clouds arriving from the west and went sailing on /Martha C/, the Cal 20, last night. It was a good breeze, just right to move me along at hull speed under main and jib without much fuss. But then the warm air started to mix with blasts of cold air, and I figured that maybe the predicted rain was about to hit. I came about and was headed back for the moorings. Then there was a loud BANG! The starboard after lower shroud was loose--on a starboard tack, of course. I luffed the jib and came about as fast as my brain analyzed the situation. Because it was a lower, and the forward lower was in place (if a bit slack), no harm was done. I got the sails down and the outboard started to take me back to the mooring. The lower terminal of the turnbuckle, a 1/4" C.S. Johnson solid-body, had broken right at the toggle. The cause seems to have been a combination of (1) sloppy rig setup--my uppers were a bit looser than they should have been, putting more stress on the aft lower, and (2) stress cracking from having been bent at the bottom of the threads. I ordered three new terminals from Defender last night (others are bent too). There was a choice between the "new style" toggle (33-616) and the old style (33-606). The old uses a threaded crosspiece--the threaded part that goes into the turnbuckle body is also threaded into the T-portion. The new style uses either a welded or forged T end. Johnson's site did not say or show which. We'll see. I've never had a total failure of standing rigging before. The iceboat lost a shroud that started to lose strands and unravel, and the Cal 20 backstay did the same thing before I ordered Steve Seal's oversized one, but neither of them actually popped. My original iceboat mast did explode, which was interesting, but it wasn't as noisy as this failure. I moved a lower terminal from the forward lower to the aft one that had failed, on the theory that you can sail a Cal 20 with no forward lowers at all, but not without functioning aft lowers. The good news is that it's going to be cold and probably rainy tonight so the temptation to go sailing is diminished. Chris Campbell

good story..reasons to always be alert when sailing and to inspect thoroughly..as soon as we get back to the boat we're going to go over those areas..on the 36 it would get really ugly. Helen On Tuesday, July 8, 2014 10:37 AM, "Chris Campbell cc… [at] lsnm.org [Cal_Boats]" <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> wrote: Listmates: I ignored the clouds arriving from the west and went sailing on Martha C, the Cal 20, last night. It was a good breeze, just right to move me along at hull speed under main and jib without much fuss. But then the warm air started to mix with blasts of cold air, and I figured that maybe the predicted rain was about to hit. I came about and was headed back for the moorings. Then there was a loud BANG! The starboard after lower shroud was loose--on a starboard tack, of course. I luffed the jib and came about as fast as my brain analyzed the situation. Because it was a lower, and the forward lower was in place (if a bit slack), no harm was done. I got the sails down and the outboard started to take me back to the mooring. The lower terminal of the turnbuckle, a 1/4" C.S. Johnson solid-body, had broken right at the toggle. The cause seems to have been a combination of (1) sloppy rig setup--my uppers were a bit looser than they should have been, putting more stress on the aft lower, and (2) stress cracking from having been bent at the bottom of the threads. I ordered three new terminals from Defender last night (others are bent too). There was a choice between the "new style" toggle (33-616) and the old style (33-606). The old uses a threaded crosspiece--the threaded part that goes into the turnbuckle body is also threaded into the T-portion. The new style uses either a welded or forged T end. Johnson's site did not say or show which. We'll see. I've never had a total failure of standing rigging before. The iceboat lost a shroud that started to lose strands and unravel, and the Cal 20 backstay did the same thing before I ordered Steve Seal's oversized one, but neither of them actually popped. My original iceboat mast did explode, which was interesting, but it wasn't as noisy as this failure. I moved a lower terminal from the forward lower to the aft one that had failed, on the theory that you can sail a Cal 20 with no forward lowers at all, but not without functioning aft lowers. The good news is that it's going to be cold and probably rainy tonight so the temptation to go sailing is diminished. Chris Campbell

Chris, Do you sail with all 3 shrouds on Starboard and all 3 shrouds on Port? Most of the boats in Detroit removed the shroud furthest aft. Im wondering why. Apparently it is under some load at times.... ~George To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com From: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2014 11:45:51 -0700 Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] BANG! goes the turnbuckle good story..reasons to always be alert when sailing and to inspect thoroughly..as soon as we get back to the boat we're going to go over those areas..on the 36 it would get really ugly. Helen On Tuesday, July 8, 2014 10:37 AM, "Chris Campbell cc… [at] lsnm.org [Cal_Boats]" <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> wrote: Listmates: I ignored the clouds arriving from the west and went sailing on Martha C, the Cal 20, last night. It was a good breeze, just right to move me along at hull speed under main and jib without much fuss. But then the warm air started to mix with blasts of cold air, and I figured that maybe the predicted rain was about to hit. I came about and was headed back for the moorings. Then there was a loud BANG! The starboard after lower shroud was loose--on a starboard tack, of course. I luffed the jib and came about as fast as my brain analyzed the situation. Because it was a lower, and the forward lower was in place (if a bit slack), no harm was done. I got the sails down and the outboard started to take me back to the mooring. The lower terminal of the turnbuckle, a 1/4" C.S. Johnson solid-body, had broken right at the toggle. The cause seems to have been a combination of (1) sloppy rig setup--my uppers were a bit looser than they should have been, putting more stress on the aft lower, and (2) stress cracking from having been bent at the bottom of the threads. I ordered three new terminals from Defender last night (others are bent too). There was a choice between the "new style" toggle (33-616) and the old style (33-606). The old uses a threaded crosspiece--the threaded part that goes into the turnbuckle body is also threaded into the T-portion. The new style uses either a welded or forged T end. Johnson's site did not say or show which. We'll see. I've never had a total failure of standing rigging before. The iceboat lost a shroud that started to lose strands and unravel, and the Cal 20 backstay did the same thing before I ordered Steve Seal's oversized one, but neither of them actually popped. My original iceboat mast did explode, which was interesting, but it wasn't as noisy as this failure. I moved a lower terminal from the forward lower to the aft one that had failed, on the theory that you can sail a Cal 20 with no forward lowers at all, but not without functioning aft lowers. The good news is that it's going to be cold and probably rainy tonight so the temptation to go sailing is diminished. Chris Campbell

On 7/8/2014 3:42 PM, george macon ge… [at] hotmail.com [Cal_Boats] wrote: > > > Chris, > > Do you sail with all 3 shrouds on Starboard and all 3 shrouds on Port? > Most of the boats in Detroit removed the shroud furthest aft. Im > wondering why. Apparently it is under some load at times.... I thought that the unnecessary shroud was the FORWARD lower, not the aft one. On my boat, the forwards have been moved inward, and I haven't kept 'em especially tight. I have all 3, just because they are there. But it was my recall that it's common to remove the forward ones. Am I wrong? Chris Campbell >

On 7/8/2014 2:45 PM, Helen Horn he… [at] sbcglobal.net [Cal_Boats] wrote: > > > good story..reasons to always be alert when sailing and to inspect > thoroughly..as soon as we get back to the boat we're going to go over > those areas..on the 36 it would get really ugly. Helen Good plan. I have been pondering those bent parts for many years, and since they had been bent but not bent back, I figured that maybe they were OK. And so I ignored them, which is always easier than actually doing something. But now I am paying attention. Chris > > >

Chris, I stepped my CAL29 mast 10 days ago,and I never put the cotter pin in the forestay pin until I take the boat back to it's slip, because there are other boats waiting to step. Well, this time I got busy and forgot to put the cotter in. I realized it when I got home, but figured there's enough pressure on that pin to keep it from moving. WRONG! Went back 2 days later and it was halfway out. I eased the backstay and used my spinnaker halyard as a temp forestay, now the roller furler is nice and loose, easy to put the pin back and install the cotter. Could have been a disaster, but I got lucky again. I need to be smart, luck eventually runs out. David Dobbs CAL29 411 On Tuesday, July 8, 2014 3:13 PM, "Chris Campbell cc… [at] lsnm.org [Cal_Boats]" <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> wrote: On 7/8/2014 2:45 PM, Helen Horn he… [at] sbcglobal.net [Cal_Boats] wrote: good story..reasons to always be alert when sailing and to inspect thoroughly..as soon as we get back to the boat we're going to go over those areas..on the 36 it would get really ugly. Helen > Good plan. I have been pondering those bent parts for many years, and since they had been bent but not bent back, I figured that maybe they were OK. And so I ignored them, which is always easier than actually doing something. But now I am paying attention. Chris > > >

On 7/8/2014 7:44 PM, david dobbs tm… [at] yahoo.com [Cal_Boats] wrote: > > > I eased the backstay and used my spinnaker halyard as a temp > forestay, now the roller furler is nice and loose, easy to put the pin > back and install the cotter. Could have been a disaster, but I got > lucky again. I need to be smart, luck eventually runs out. Well, in the luck department, when my brother and I ran the other boat into a power line about 45 years ago, the spinnaker halyard was already secured at the stemhead fitting, so when the forestay burned through, the halyard held the mast up. Wow, talk about luck protecting fools.... Chris Campbell