Alternative to bolt-cropper type wire cutters

Looks good, but a bit dear. The single handed, ratcheting system is obviously superior than trying to manipulate two long handles of a conventional cutter. I understand that various coding rules (IOR?) require wire cutters to be carried, and it makes sense to carry tools which can be actually used rather than just meet the minimum requirements. However...

To widen the debate slightly, and at some risk of being flamed, I've never quite understood the desire to quickly cut away and abandon a fallen rig. I understand the need to avoid a broken spar boring a hole in the hull, but would have thought there were advantages in first attempting to secure it alongside, or towing it as (part of?) a drogue arrangement, rather than just throwing it away. The saved material would then IMHO give many more options for subsequently assembling a jury rig than if it were lost.

I hasten to add that this is entirely conjectural, since I have (thankfully) never had to make these choices. But what do others think?
 
got one a few years back; can't remember the price; works a treat, cuts through 7mm s/s like it was butter. Easy to use, rachet means that you can attach it to the wire and work it single handed. Sooo much better than a bolt cropper
 
I think in really big weather, like enough to roll the boat and break the rig, you might want it gone asap.
In many other circumstances, you're probably right.
As others have said, I don't really wish to find out!
 
Here is an even more interesting and expensive alternative - if you can get hold of one. They don't seem to make them anymore
 
We (YM) did a test in Nov 2002, yep they are expensive, but they work and once they are clipped on you can let go and they will stay there, so you can use them single handed, unlike the bigger croppers which either need one end on deck and a two handed downward motion, or trying to use them in with a handle in each hands either way it's not good for balancing on a rolling boat

Using the toolva shootit, it's very important to secure both end being cut. otherwise with tension and the force of the cartridge going off it can lead to the cable whiping back.

Which ever you get, make sure it's the right one for your yacht, i.e. if you have cable, get a cable/wire cutter, if you have rod rigging, you need a bolt cutter.

Some bolt cutters can happily cut 8mm chain, but can't cut 6mm wire
 
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To widen the debate slightly, and at some risk of being flamed, I've never quite understood the desire to quickly cut away and abandon a fallen rig. I understand the need to avoid a broken spar boring a hole in the hull, but would have thought there were advantages in first attempting to secure it alongside, or towing it as (part of?) a drogue arrangement, rather than just throwing it away. The saved material would then IMHO give many more options for subsequently assembling a jury rig than if it were lost.


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IMHO unless you're out of motoring range, ditch the lot as quick as possible.

I wouldn't want a rig anywhere near my topsides, or dangling under the water like a drogue, it's 30 odd foot of aluminium tubing, it weighs quite a bit!! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

By all means save the boom, but I don't know whether I could handle much more than that on a wobbly boat

We did jury rigs and dismasting in the Jan 06 Expert on Board with JJ
 
I have an angle-grinder with spare disks and a nice long extension cable. Naturally, you need a working invertor.
 
"At some risk of being flamed" myself, may I offer a tuppence worth on this?

A fair few years ago I was involved in bringing a quite posh little trimaran back south from a Scottish Islands Peaks Race, with her new owner, who'd purchased her just a couple of weeks earlier from an agent/broker professing to be a yacht rigger. Neither the owner nor I were on the right side of 50, but he was certainly using bus passes..... so by the time we were pitching and nodding our way down the Irish Sea past Lleyn, we were both dog-tired.

I was awoken by the 'crash' and hit the cockpit running ( in my sox and T-shirt ) to find R..... sitting amid coils of rigging, the mast lying across the side deck less than a yard away, and his eyes like saucers. It was a black night, and not a lot was visible, but it made sense to get us both out of harm's way down below, and the kettle on. That was deliberate, to avoid rushing to do things that maybe didn't need doing, and into situations that needed avoiding.... like the boom lying across the mast, 'scissoring' in the rolling scend that was just waiting for an unthinking leg to get in the way. And the loops of s/s rigging, snaking tight, then slack again, and the slippery sailcloth underfoot..... So it was VIP to stop, look and think.

Making some tea - or coffee - bought some time for that, the adrenalin surge to ebb, and a plan considered and agreed.

We realised we didn't have VHF comms, so taking exaggerated care to avoid risk of injury to anyone took on heightened significance, as did avoiding any risk of someone going over the side. So we decided that one would go round the boat, clipped on, looking and assessing, whilst t'other would watch out for unseen hazards, clumsy-footed mistakes, and be 'safety net'. That worked.

We decided that the hull(s) had no damage, so we probably could strip off and bag up the sails, running and standing rigging, and that would take tools, time and care. Deliberately, we stopped every 20 minutes or so to assess how we were doing, and take a breather.

Once the clutter was removed, rolled, folded and lashed to the other sidedeck, we just continued securing the spars, winding the unbroken mast properly on board using a turning block on the foredeck mooring cleat and a sound mooring warp, led back to a sheet winch. Berth cushions underneath, although damaged, were far cheaper than repairs to gelcoat and layup due to rubbing and grinding.

By the time we were finished, it was dawn, we were knackered/stumbling, and I fell asleep below, waiting for the kettle to boil yet again. R..... similarly dozed off in the cockpit, so neither of us saw HMS Torbay, surfaced, sneak up on us until she was just 30 metres away..... but that's another story.

Some of the tools we found valuable - or wished we'd had - include good headtorches, fingerless artificial-leather gloves ( splinters and wire strands ), a couple of hacksaw frames and a dozen new blades-for-HT/SS-steel, a couple of blades with tungsten-carbide grit for glassfibre and aluminium ( google Starrett ), a selection of tools for dismantling your rigging screws ( each with a cord loop, for they don't float ), a bolt-cropper with jaws that actually cut your rigging ( and try it out ), an impact driver-with-bits for the big set screws holding the gooseneck fitting, steel spikes and molegrips big and small - and a charged, handheld VHF.

Several had inspected the rigging - including the pro rigger - but all had missed the missing component of the forestay top toggle - which articulated in ONE plane only, unlike the lower. As ani fule kno, you can bend Marine Stainless - once.......

It was only when we were back, safe alongside, in Holyhead Harbour and having a pint and chips in the club bar that we realised no-one had made an actual conscious decision to hoik the mast and boom back on board. We each assumed the other had.

What would I want for the next time? Several fitter, younger crew who don't know how difficult it is avoiding adding injury to insult, in the dark.


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I guess if you had a crew mate tangled in the wire rope speed would be very important.

Bilbobaggins... so you lost the mast and boom? sorry its late /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
Yes, you're right.

I was relying to DaveS ( [ QUOTE ]
But what do others think?

[/ QUOTE ] and was mistaken when I thought I'd made clear we recovered the mast, the boom, the sails and all the rigging - except for some cut halyards and chopped masthead VHF and lights feed cables.

It would have been much easier to have 'deep sixed' the lot, but I dimly remember our being unsure about the details of insurance coverage for rig. Add to the list of stuff that's important a detailed, laminated breakdown of insurance cover and exclusions for hull, rig and gear ( and people ). This is VIP, 'cos many decisions will turn on having this.

/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 
Mentioned this before on a similar thread. I recommend a cordless 115mm dia angle grinder fitted with a 1mm thick cutting disc. This will go through eg 10 dia steel as if thro butter. For my business I have DeWalt 18v cordless tools & I certainly take the drill + angle grinder with me on Summer cruise. Bolt cutters are wonderful tools but if you were faced with using them in rough conditions could you use them with one hand while holding on with the other ? With my cordless angle grinder I certainly could!
 
got some 18 inch bolt croppers from aldi and tried them on some 7mm wire I had left over from the last re-rigging. no problem. worked well though given the choice some 24 inch ones would be better.

they made a clean enough cut to be used for a Stalok.
 
Got some a lot like that a few years ago, but I thought they were a lot cheaper than that. There was a PBO test (probably about 5 years ago) which recommended them. Never used in anger (thank goodness) but very impressive when trimming the end of over-long bolts etc, and very easy to use.

We felt that being able to use them one-handed in the sort of conditions when you might have to use them would be a huge advantage over the long-handled bolt croppers.
 
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