[Public-list] Bronze turnbuckles - Inspection

Thu Oct 21 07:06:21 PDT 2004

Mike:
    I found tht the spreaders on 528 fit very loosly as well so I take rubber
tape and tape the spreader part that fits into the SS bracket before I step the
mast each year. That way, it is not rubbing but maintains some flexibility
within the system. I also tape the joint with riging tape to try to keep the
rubber out of the sun. So far, I have not seen any wear where I don't want it
and the rig has not failed.....yet. And I do not sail with tension at high C
either, much to Roberta Liddick's amazement!
    From sailing dinghys, most of the spreaders seem to be allowed to pivot or
move. I suspect this is to accomodate the change in forces that occur with bendy
masts and rakes. While I know the Alberg mast is not flexible, I'm not about to
make the spreaders so fixed that they cannot adapt to changes in forces that may
occur with any rig that is deck mounted, or under varying loads that we normally
encounter in wind pressures from light to those that occur with 35 knots of
wind.
    In my experience, when things are so tight they cannot bend, and the force
that holds is exceded, something has to break.
    Some of the books by Stuart Walker detail the development of various mast
rig patterns on the International 14, and other dinghys,  which may be of help
to some. It is amazing how much more surface area is in the wind with more wire
in the rig. Perhaps some of the designers or engineers on this site might
comment on stiff vs flexible spreaders.
Don

Mike Lehman wrote:

> This is great info. It is what I was trying to establish, that is - a list
> of boats who have had mast failures, the conditions surrounding the incident
> and the probable cause of the failure. I don't want to alarm anyone, but I
> think the spreader failure is possibly a very likely cause on the boats that
> have the round spreaders. Many years ago, after I witnessed the 527
> dismasting, I took my mast down and inspected the spreaders. What I found
> was the the aluminum spreaders fit very loosely in the SS socket and as a
> result of rocking in the socket, they had nearly worn through the aluminum
> tubing on the bottom where it rubbed th socket. I bought new spreaders and
> put a sleve inside the socket to make them fit tight. That was 22 years and
> they are still fine, but I inspect them carefully each year. I suggest that
> others with these spreaders look at them closely.
>
>               Mike Lehman
> ><((((º>¸.·´¯`·...¸><((((º>
>
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: Don Campbell <dk.campbell at sympatico.ca>
> Reply-To: dk.campbell at sympatico.ca,Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all
> <public-list at alberg30.org>
> To: Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all <public-list at alberg30.org>
> Subject: Re: [Public-list] Bronze turnbuckles - Inspection
> Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 10:40:20 -0400
>
> Kris:
>      There are three lost of rigs that I know of in the Canadian fleet. I
> believe
> Candy Cane  #583 lost her rig in a knock down in the Fujinon 300 with Peter
> Ashby
> at the helm in the early 1990s. It was a particularly nasty storm that came
> across the lake after dark about the Niagara River mouth and devastated many
> in
> the fleet. John Birch can tell you more as he was in it and survived to
> finish
> the race with his AL30, Wind Rose,  #544. The Fujinon was the original 300
> mile
> race around Lake Ontario, now known as the Lake Ontario 300. Wanderlove, KC
> 578
> lost some of her rig on a south wind while tied to a wharf at Burlington
> B&SC
> when two rigs tangled and locked up at their finger docks, (so always make
> sure
> masts don't line up across the finger), and Jazz # 648 lost her rig in the
> last
> race of the season last fall due to either a  spreader failure or too much
> compression on the mast at the spreader and no compression fitting within
> the
> mast. You can check that one further with John Kitchener.
>      The two total failures were both in race boats,  under quite abnormal
> stress
> in the first case and certainly stress in the second. I sometimes question
> how
> tight the rigging needs to be before we get the stress too great and either
> force
> the stick through the deck or collapse the carrying beam,  or lose the rig.
> Don
>
> Kristofer Coward wrote:
>
>  > On Tue, Oct 19, 2004 at 09:38:47PM -0400, Mike Lehman wrote:
>  > > I have to comment on this. I have never know of an Alberg that has lost
> the
>  > > rig due to a rigging failure. The failures that I know about are:
>  > >
>  > > 527 - failed spreader
>  > > 411 - collision [with another boat]
>  > > 135 - Bridge collision [Chesapeake Bay Bridge]
>  > >  35 - Bridge collision (Intracoastal Waterway]
>  > > 399 - forward lower knee failure [60 knot winds and a pitch pole]
>  > > 464 - collision [with another A30]
>  > >
>  > > How many more are there? What were the causes? The boats are getting
> older
>  >
>  > 583 - collision [with another boat] (or so I've been told -- you hear
>  > all sorts of interesting things when you buy a boat that's been in your
>  > club longer than you've been alive, or in your class association since
>  > before you started puberty).
>  >
>  > Kris Coward
>  > #583 Candy Cane
>  >
>  > --
>  > Kristofer Coward                                http://unripe.melon.org/
>  > GPG Fingerprint: 2BF3 957D 310A FEEC 4733  830E 21A4 05C7 1FEB 12B3
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