Dismasting - and cutting the mast away fast

Modulation

Modulation

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I lost my mast sailing last year through a defect in one of the lower shrouds. Managed to get the sail down quickly but as the sea was so short and lumpy the mast went at the spreaders 10 mins later and the whole lot went over the side. We were never in any danger as the whole mast structure was kept well away from the hull by the lower mast section which was still attached to the mast foot.
It has made us rethink how we would cope if we had to cut away the rigging in a hurry. An acquaintance who lost his mast 150 miles from land told me he ended up using his hacksaw as his croppers didn't work. Took him hours. I've experimented with my 24" bolt croppers to see how effective they are on 7mm ss 1 by 19 wire. They simply cant cut it - the blades are not as tough as the stainless wire, and as the PBO tests indicated some years ago, you just cant get enough leverage.
The next step up seems to be to go for either Baudat or Felco cutters. Both claim to be able to handle up to 8mm stainless steel wire and there is a Youtube video showing the Baudat cutting a 6mm wire easily.
I'm thinking of getting one of these but at £250 each they're not cheap.
Anyone used one or know a bit more about them - or any other reliable approach?
 
Dismasting

I have suffered a few dismastings over the years. Fortunately on smaller boats. We elected to save the mast and rigging in each case. I can appreciate that the time does come when you have to cut it adrift to save the hull from damage.
Yes 7x19 wire is extremely hard to cut. You really need a bypass or scissors action cutter to cut the wire.
Alternatives might be to cut the turnscrews at the threaded part. Although thicker they might be easier to cut. Certainly if you used a hacksaw. 24inbch bolt cutters may be too small. Get bigger bolt cutters or look at the explosive driven cutters available for huge cost.
Perhaps a better approach would be to release the clevis pin attachments. An alternative to split pins that can be easily cut perhaps?

You say you got the mainsail down quickly. That was fortunate as I have always used bolt rope in track rather than sliders. When the mast breaks the track is squashed flat and there is no way to get the mainsail out. Not so difficult with sliders if you cut all the sliders off. On the other hand I have always used hank on jibs so no problem there but a long foil would take a bit of recovery on board unless you cut it free.
So I congratulate you on thinking of the problems. Dismasting is not a remote possibility we have had 2 during this current season at our club. (all in sheltered waters) Due to hitting marker posts. Others have been due to old SS wire in stays.Trying to cut wires is a sobering test. good luck olewill
 
The large felcos (c19?) will just do 8mm 1 x 19 stainless if they are brand new sharp you are a bit scared! List from memory is just over £200. Set one handle on the deck and lean on the other heavily. For a hack saw you really need a block of wood with a slot in it to hold the wire then another slot at 90deg for the hacksaw blade. Quickest would be a cordless grinder with a 1mm cutting disk. If it would survive the seawater long enough.
 
Lost my mast a few years ago and didn't had anything to cut the rigging. Everything went well.
Now have a Felco at boat and tried this; works perfect.

erwin
 
Conachair said:
The large felcos (c19?) will just do 8mm 1 x 19 stainless if they are brand new sharp you are a bit scared! List from memory is just over £200. Set one handle on the deck and lean on the other heavily. For a hack saw you really need a block of wood with a slot in it to hold the wire then another slot at 90deg for the hacksaw blade. Quickest would be a cordless grinder with a 1mm cutting disk. If it would survive the seawater long enough.
Click to expand...

This is the new age way to go...CORDLESS ANGLE GRINDER !!. I Had an old motor bike lock which would not unlock. The steel was 10ml thick, the angle grinder went through it just like slicing a piece of cake and of course it can be used for many other things.

Fair winds

Peter
 
Yep... angle grinder will be my plan.... over this winter I had a guard wire fray pretty badly, and so went to cut it off with a hacksaw (which had been my previous solution to 'losing' the rig.... frightened the hell out of me... took me a good few mins to cut through a half frayed 4mm guard wire.... I reckon the 10mm stays would be a 20 min job each!

Conachair makes a very good point... half the reason it was difficult was because it was slack....
 
My back up plan should distmasting occur was always the hacksaw option but When we lost our rig, quite a long way from landfall, it turned out to be a nonstarter. we got rid of it (after first trying to salvage it unsuccessfully) by pulling out the clevis pins at the end of each stay, not very difficult until you get to the last ones which have all the weight and strain on them.
 
Scillypete said:
My back up plan should distmasting occur was always the hacksaw option but When we lost our rig, quite a long way from landfall, it turned out to be a nonstarter. we got rid of it (after first trying to salvage it unsuccessfully) by pulling out the clevis pins at the end of each stay, not very difficult until you get to the last ones which have all the weight and strain on them.
Click to expand...

Seconded

Best solution may be good to have a punch and hammer to get the last pin out
 
We don't have any croppers on board but have been thinking about this - just remove the clevis pin was my thought - I know about the tension problem as we take the dinghy mast up and down quite often - my solution for the big boat rig would be to use a line to take the strain off the pins then knock them out - the line can then be cut when the rig is ready to be disposed of.
It sounds more hassle than just cutting the rig, but by the sounds of things it'll be quicker!!

Or have I got it wrong?
 
Scillypete said:
My back up plan should distmasting occur was always the hacksaw option but When we lost our rig, quite a long way from landfall, it turned out to be a nonstarter. we got rid of it (after first trying to salvage it unsuccessfully) by pulling out the clevis pins at the end of each stay, not very difficult until you get to the last ones which have all the weight and strain on them.
Click to expand...

Pete - interesting, that is my plan after failing to cut a test bit of 10mm rigging with my meter long Record croppers. I then tested cutting the same rigging with a hack saw and it worked well! It was a brand new blade.

Now I am concerned that my memory may be tricking me.... old age coming...

I better do the experiment again in view of the comments here.
 
Another vote for cordless angle grinder with 1mm thick disc. I use Dewalt 18v professionally so always have several battery packs, charger, etc aboard on long trips. Ryobi do good budget buy cordless tools.

If sea conditions are rough how will you manage a 2-handle bolt cropper ? With a grinder you have one hand to hold on & the other to operate the tool.
 
anniebray said:
Another vote for cordless angle grinder with 1mm thick disc. I use Dewalt 18v professionally so always have several battery packs, charger, etc aboard on long trips. Ryobi do good budget buy cordless tools.

If sea conditions are rough how will you manage a 2-handle bolt cropper ? With a grinder you have one hand to hold on & the other to operate the tool.
Click to expand...

I was caught out in a 30 knots of wind not so long ago (forecast for 5-6) and ran into difficulty when tacking. We were inshore in the shoals with 10ft high waves on the nose and these were coming at us thick and fast. They had built up due to the long north easterly fetch and we had no choice as we had exited the Deben race on the ebb, in order to get back to our home berth. It didn't seem too bad from the river mouth and there is often a lot of chop around the river mouth. Anyway, one of us had to go on the foredeck to untie a foresail sheet which had managed to tie itself round a shroud, (probably because we'd let the sheets flap for a second or so too longwhen going about). Having one free hand to untie the rope was a challenge enough in those conditions, so contemplating successfully hacksawing, or angle grinding in that predicament seems like an impossiblity. Bear in mind that we had steerage under power to keep the boat nose on the to waves, but with a broken mast, you would soon end up beam on and in great danger. Waves would be breaking over the sides for sure. Not good!

With power tools, you have to make sure the batteries are always fully charged and to hand, which is just one more thing to make sure you don't forget when heading out. The time spent out of the relative safety of the cockpit should be kept to a minimum and having to go to and fro to change a depleted battery wastes time and puts you at uneccessary additional risk.

Water showering over you is very likely when you are out in stiff winds with a broken mast. With these conditions, there's a pretty strong chance of salt water getting the electrical workings, which could disable a cordless angle driver.

Also, when you are bouncing around on a boat in rough weather and you are under pressure to clear the rig, do you really want to be holding an angle grinder with one hand? Under static operating conditions, two hands is advisable. You would be highly likely to jar the tool and the blade could snatch, pulling the unit out of your hands and doing you a nasty injury (or less importantly, do more damage to the boat). Or it could fly over the side.

I still think the high quality ratchet action cutters are the way to go as the handle appears to provide a much higher mechanical advantage than a standard long arm cable cutter, so not requiring gorilla strength. Just grab the cutters from the lazerette and you are on the task immediately. No batteries to find charging in the saloon, no time wasted getting everything together, negligible chance of the cutters failing and a tool in hand, safe to use in treacherous conditions.

Or have I got no idea? :p:p
 
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Keep an eye out for hydraulic cutters on ebay. A few years ago, I picked up a set for not much over £100 that are exactly the same as those sold by Holmotro (?) to yachties for over a £1k. I can't remember what the brand is on them but can check if anyone's interested. Fantatic bit of kit.

I've tried them on 3/8 anchor chain and 10mm rigging wire and they cut like butter - just three or four pumps without much force.
 
I have the type of croppers that have a cutout in one of the blades to prevent the wire from being ejected from the nip. They are 36 inch ones and were bought from a market stall very cheaply. They cut 7 and 8 mm wire like a knife through butter.
 
Yes I also have a pair of oldish cable cutters of the long handled variety, (about 2 ft) they have a cut out in the blade and when I replaced my forestay (8mm) last year cut it without any appreciable effort, and made a tidy job of it too, I was a little surprised but quite happy. Sorry not sure what the make is but will look next time I'm aboard. I think that they may have alloy handles but may be wrong.
 
If you've got a quick-snip cutter then that seems to be the way of getting back to the safety of the cockpit in the shortest time.
However, a saw must be worse than slipping the rigging pins, unless the wire is under tension (the last one?) in which case some running rigging should have been in place beforehand.
For somebody my age and strength, a bench-mounted hydraulic device or the grinder would be the only options, so I'll go for the pins, which I know are free because we drop the mast regularly.
 
npf1 said:
Keep an eye out for hydraulic cutters on ebay. A few years ago, I picked up a set for not much over £100 that are exactly the same as those sold by Holmotro (?) to yachties for over a £1k. I can't remember what the brand is on them but can check if anyone's interested. Fantatic bit of kit.

I've tried them on 3/8 anchor chain and 10mm rigging wire and they cut like butter - just three or four pumps without much force.
Click to expand...

Hi
I'd be very interested to know the make.
thanks
 
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