drooping loose spreader arm on the mast

[Rhylsailer99]

When i get lifted out very soon i plan to drill out the holes with a 7/16" drill and use a 7/16" nut with a nyloc lock nut. Does this sound like a good idea?
im presuming the pins holding it in place are 10mm but have worn loose through constantly rattling over the years.

 

[paulajayne]

Pics will help to give best advice.

 

[peter gibbs]

When i get lifted out very soon i plan to drill out the holes with a 7/16" drill and use a 7/16" nut with a nyloc lock nut. Does this sound like a good idea?
im presuming the pins holding it in place are 10mm but have worn loose through constantly rattling over the years.

Not quite clear about the current drooping condition. Why is this?
Generally speaking spreaders are locked off at the junction with the stay. If this has slipped investigate and refix I suggest. Upward slant required to bifurcated the angle made at the stay.
Spreader foot is compressed into fitting at mast and retained by plug with retaining ring through underside. As you probably know.
Using nuts as you indicate even locking type not common and seemingly less secure.

 

[Bilgediver]

When i get lifted out very soon i plan to drill out the holes with a 7/16" drill and use a 7/16" nut with a nyloc lock nut. Does this sound like a good idea?
im presuming the pins holding it in place are 10mm but have worn loose through constantly rattling over the years.

What boat? If I have a drooping spreader on my Westerly 26 ft I just lift the stay end till it is at the correct angle and it stays in place. once the rigging is tensioned up. I lift it using the main hallyard sliding up the stay and attach a downhaul to the halyard to retrieve it when the job is done.

 

[penberth3]

When i get lifted out very soon i plan to drill out the holes with a 7/16" drill and use a 7/16" nut with a nyloc lock nut. Does this sound like a good idea?
im presuming the pins holding it in place are 10mm but have worn loose through constantly rattling over the years.

Why a nut plus a nyloc nut? One nyloc nut will be enough.

 

[Rhylsailer99]

Why a nut plus a nyloc nut? One nyloc nut will be enough.

i meant one nyloc , after re reading i said it wrong originally.

 

[Rhylsailer99]

What boat? If I have a drooping spreader on my Westerly 26 ft I just lift the stay end till it is at the correct angle and it stays in place. once the rigging is tensioned up. I lift it using the main hallyard sliding up the stay and attach a downhaul to the halyard to retrieve it when the job is done.

cheers i never thought of that. so i can loop 2 halyards together and tie a rope so i can bring them down . then re tension once the angle is correct and it should stay in place is that correct. ahghh thinking about it i just need one halyard looped on the stay and a rope to bring it back down once the job is done , will try this next time i am on the boat.

 

[Rhylsailer99]

What boat? If I have a drooping spreader on my Westerly 26 ft I just lift the stay end till it is at the correct angle and it stays in place. once the rigging is tensioned up. I lift it using the main hallyard sliding up the stay and attach a downhaul to the halyard to retrieve it when the job is done.

cobra 850 it is.

 

[Rhylsailer99]

Pics will help to give best advice.

the arm on the right has drooped and if i wiggle the stay its loose but the other side has no movement if i do the same.

 

[alahol2]

There's a halyard about to part in that photo.

 

[Rhylsailer99]

There's a halyard about to part in that photo.

yes it was a halyard that has now been changed it was on its last fibres when i got the boat.

 

[William_H]

The base of the spreader does not have much support for the spreader in the up and down direction. (geometry) I would suggest far better to attach the spreader end to the wire. As said this should be a a few degrees upward. Use a clamp of some sort on the wire. However you can reallly only do this accurately with mast up and rigging tensioned. If you are not willing to get up the mast then perhaps a measurement with a long tape or pull a string up with a haliard so you know where the spreader tip should be on the wire for when the mast is down. Do the same on the other side. You might acheive a satisfactory lock of the wire by wrapping lock wire many turns around the stay under the spreader tip then carry the wrap up to do the same thing above. You might find when you get it down that spreader tip has a method of locking the wire.
In any case I think the spreader angle is vital to mast security more so on fractional rig aft swept spreader but still important on mast head rig.

 

[Rhylsailer99]

The base of the spreader does not have much support for the spreader in the up and down direction. (geometry) I would suggest far better to attach the spreader end to the wire. As said this should be a a few degrees upward. Use a clamp of some sort on the wire. However you can reallly only do this accurately with mast up and rigging tensioned. If you are not willing to get up the mast then perhaps a measurement with a long tape or pull a string up with a haliard so you know where the spreader tip should be on the wire for when the mast is down. Do the same on the other side. You might acheive a satisfactory lock of the wire by wrapping lock wire many turns around the stay under the spreader tip then carry the wrap up to do the same thing above. You might find when you get it down that spreader tip has a method of locking the wire.
In any case I think the spreader angle is vital to mast security more so on fractional rig aft swept spreader but still important on mast head rig.

thanks for that I will be hiring a cherry picker to get to the top of the mast so will be able to have a look at both spreaders to see if one side has been secured .

 

[Boathook]

Not quite clear about the current drooping condition. Why is this?
Generally speaking spreaders are locked off at the junction with the stay. If this has slipped investigate and refix I suggest. Upward slant required to bifurcated the angle made at the stay.
Spreader foot is compressed into fitting at mast and retained by plug with retaining ring through underside. As you probably know.
Using nuts as you indicate even locking type not common and seemingly less secure.

My spreaders (selden/kemp) have a slot for the wire and a grub screw to hold them in place on the wire.
When my rigging was renewed the rigger fitted the shroud and marked it where it met the base of the spreader at the mast. Moving the shroud out to the end of the spreader and fitting at the mark meant that the spreader had a slight uplift giving the correct bisected angle for a cruising boat. This was done with the mast down. I learnt quite a bit from the rigger as I helped with the re-rig.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

To add a little to the points made.

One type of spreader is fixed at the tip somehow, sometimes adjustable from outside, sometimes needing the tip fitting removed to get to it.

The other type relies on a tight-ish fit in the socket with no clamping at the tip. That's fine, because as long as the spreader is in roughly the right place there's no vertical force trying to shift it. Some use a plastic sleeve to achieve the fit.

I've never seen one that relies on pins to create the tightness.

Some fore and aft sloppiness in the socket is usually deliberate.