How Essential is a Pair of Bolt Cutters?

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I noticed that one of the local discount shops is selling bolt cutters for a fiver, and was sorely tempted, and then I thought "how likely am I to suffer a failure and need to cut some of the standing rigging away?" How many who are just coastal cruisers have a pair of bolt cutters on their boat?

Jon

<hr width=100% size=1><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Novice on 14/01/2004 20:24 (server time).</FONT></P>
 
You need good rigging cutters, when needed you want to be sure they will work otherwise why carry them. And yes inshore/coastal is if anything more important, you may need to cut & run before being blown on the rocks, offshore you have more time. That said if you look after and check your rig and it's connections, you will hopefully never need the cutters!

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Hi!
Buy good ones as they will always cut properly and grease them well, wrap them in brown paper and place them in a sealed poly bag. That way you will always have a pair that will work! (yes messy but in good condition) When needed they are a must. How will you know when you need them, who knows?

I carry a set on a power boat well greased, of course ( left over from my sailing days) and I know they will cut all rigging easily on a moody 29. Will I ever need them? I wouldnt like my life to depend on my not actually needing them.

Regards
Rob

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.rejuvanu.com>RejuVanu</A>
 
I bought a set of relatively cheap ones. I expect like most cheapo stuff they will only work a few times before breaking or going blunt - but hey I do not intend to use them often!
So far I have used mine once - when the padlock on the tender rusted up - very useful to have the cutters but the grokels thought I was nicking the tender. be careful about walking about with them if you are cruising as you may be accused of "going equipped".
Martin

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Contrary to other replies I think your question is very valid. Yes of course we should be conservative and carefull and if the yacht racing people say we must carry bolt cutters then we run a risk by not carrying them however......
I have suffered many mast failures, in sheltered waters, granted but never felt the rig was going to damage the hull. The priority was to get the wreckage on board and work towards repare and replacement . This involved removal of clevis pins and loosening of turnscrews. Good pliers and spanners to hand are vital. These comments relate to a smaller boat with a 27 foot mast and for a larger boat perhaps there would be a need for bolt cutters.
I can think of more important spares tools and safety gear before bolt cutters but heck you have to decide for your own reasons whether to carry them and again what quality you buy. I don't drive a Rolls Royce and I don't expect you do we buy the quality and price we think is right, only people giving advice but not paying say "buy the best." Regards will

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Don't buy bolt cutters as the jaws do not close and will not cut wire, I've tried it, you need wire cutters.

I have a pair all greased and wrapped as recommended, in fact they have been like that since 1979 and have never been used, thank goodness but if the s>>t hits the fan I know they are there and ready to go!

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Re: Bolt Cutters - great for the DIY workshop!

If it's good gear I would pay a fiver for them, then consider what use to make of them. But beware if they've been abused - then they are worth nothing!

Most likely you will use them more for landed DIY than at sea, assuming you found somewhere aboard to stow them.

Seriously, of all the breakdowns and disasters reported how many cruising boats need to unearth their cutters and hack the remains of the rig away?

Exactly - I agree with you.

PWG

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They are a complete waste of time unless you have to cut the rig away to stop it holing you and sinking the boat . . .

I bought a (good) pair of wire cutters last year because I didn't know the history of the rigging on my boat. Along with a spare VHF aerial in case I lost the mast, this was enough in the way of safety equipment to give me the confidence to sail the boat hard in relatively exposed conditions . . . not paranoid, but with a minimum of equipment to allow survival in a 'what if' situation.

The safety equipment you carry should be enough to stop you worrying. That will not be the same for everyone.

I'm replacing the rigging this year, but will not be selling the cutters. They are mandatory on coded (charter) boats, so there must be some statistical / logical evidence for carrying them.

- Nick



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I think like all things safety it's not just how likely you are to need them, but also the consequences of not having them that need to be considered. For example what are the chances of falling overboard, versus how much stuff we have in case we do.

With bolt cutters, I think I'd rather spend $100 on good set than be lying with my legs trapped under a fallen spar, on a bucking deck wishing I had done while watching SWMBO cutting away the rigging with a junior hacksaw!!

That's my personal trade off, similarly I haven't spent the money on a hand held VHF as I feel that if the mast comes down and I can cut it free, I will then have time to jury rig an antenna before the spreaders pierce the hull and we sink.

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Not at all

On my boat they would be completely useless:

Forestay: 14mm wire, to a bottlescrew. Undoing the bottlescrew has to be more practical. Topmast shrouds: 10mm wire to bottlescrews; same applies. Main shrouds, 10mm wire to deadeyes and lanyards; try a knife. Backstays - to Highfield levers - pull the clevis pin on the runner blocks.

There would be no point at all in carrying this equipment.

<hr width=100% size=1>Que scais-je?
 
I bought a cheap pair about 5 years ago, tested them on some spare 6mm wire and they cut it OK. I keep them on board, well greased with the head wrapped in a plastic bag. So far I've not had to use them. It would certainly be much quicker to cut the wires instead of struggling to remove split pins with pliers on a bucking deck. It's difficult enough when the boat is laid up ashore!



<hr width=100% size=1>dickh
I'd rather be sailing... :-) /forums/images/icons/smile.gif
 
Re: Not at all

May I suggest that you get a trampoline, a fire hose and two friends and proceed as follows.

Sit on the trampoline. Have one friend bounce as hard as he can alongside you. Have the other friend direct the firehose (even set on "spray") at you and while this is happening, undo three bottle screws and measure the time it takes.

Masts rarely come down in tranquil conditions. My mast will do serious damage to the boat in the time it takes to undo three rigging screws in an unruly sea.

Rigging cutters are inexpensive and easily stowed, why be without them?

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If they are really bolt cutters, with straight jaws, don't bother. They won 't cut rigging wire very well at all, you need proper cable cutters with "parrot beak" jaws.
How long are the handles. You need a lot of leverage to cut anything over 6mm. I re-rigged last winter with 8mm galvanised wire which 2 foot cutters wouldn't look at.
Spend a bit more and get the proper tool. In addition the the rest of the good advice here, fix a lanyard on the handle with a carabiner on the other end. If you do have to use it in anger fix to a jack-stay, not yourself.

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I had a mast come down on top of me when furling in the head sail. Jamming at the top had weakened the forestay. It was just outside Fleetwood marina and a passing RoRo called out the RNLI. If it had happened in rough weather out at sea I would have been in difficulties. After the event I rushed out and bought a bolt cutter and emergency aerial. I now also have a back-up handheld VHF.
Fortunately, since then I have not had to use the bolt cutter, but you never know!

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I bought mine when I fitted my boat out to go to the Med in 1993 kept them in the Wet locker ( its dry really) used them a few times for odd jobs but I was glad I had them April 1999 just off Moushole when the mast went over the side, cut 10mm and 8mm ss rigging all but the forestay which I could'nt get at so had to remove the pin, I also had a good sharp diving knife at hand, cut all the halliards etc which run back to the cockpit.
A simple pair of croppers, straight blades 2' handles they cut all stays with no prblem.
Mike.

<hr width=100% size=1>www.sailingforfun.co.uk
 
A friend of mine in a Centaur off St Albans Head. Mast came down taking part of the cabin top with it, they needed Weymouth Lifeboat to pull them uptide/wind of the rigging which was round the prop, rudder and between the keels. All on board were sick becuse without the mast the boat was really rolling. The lifeboat helped them cut the rig free and get it or some of it back on board and towed them back to Weymouth. Wind F5, experienced crew but no cutters...

A Fulmar off Cherbourg, rig came down when the roller furler unwound the forestay bottlescrew. Towed (very expensively I believe) into Cherbourg by French LB.

Moody in Alderney race.

Egythene in Poole Bay

Admiral Sandy xxx of Falklands fame, off North Channel 24 footer I think

I'm sure I could think of a few more given another 5 minutes.



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Er . . .

Yes, loads . . .

Have you ever read anything about sailing apart from the manufacturer's literature??

- Nick

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