Rigging Screw for Oceanis 400

[chamac]

Hi All
I recently had to cut one of the rigging screws off of my Beneteau Oceanis 400. Got put under pressure at Port Napoleon, France by two staff members who arrived before the booked time. The screw was seized and it was a case of cut it or miss our flights home. Basically I need a replacement. I have tried the Beneteau dealers in Ireland. They do not have it listed. I tried Z-Spars who I believe made the original as it has a Z stamped on it. They are still trying to get one they tell me. Tried more of the larger riggers in Ireland and the UK without success.
Does anyone know where I can get one. I was quoted €300 to get one made. How does that price sound?
Any info would be great. The rigging screw has a 16mm (left hand thread) on one end and a 19 mm thread on the other (wire) end. Its 315mm long and is open faced. Looks are not important as its inside a tube.

 

[kandoma]

I would use a Sta-Lock terminal. No special equipment necessary to install. Or I would just replace the broken terminal with a (press on) terminal from Hasselfors (now Selden).

Peter

 

[Rick]

Suggest you try other UK based Bennie toe outfits, or otherwise just a big rigging company. Agents for new boats unlikely to even know what rigging screws are.

 

[William_H]

That is a big rigging screw but then I ama little boat man. It is not clear what was cut. Did you cut the screw itself ie on the thread. Was it connected to the wire by a swaged fitting which actually screwed into the rigging screw body or did it have a toggle clevis pin or similar to connect to a swaged loop in the wire?
Any rigging screw of suitable dimensions should suit. However if the wire was swaged to the threaded part of the screw body then you need a body that will suit that thread. I expect at the bottom there is a toggle or fork so a threaded part can be replaced along with the rigging screw body. The different screw sizes at each end is unusual. I would have thought. and unnecessary. Providing you match the wire end and provided the deck end is strong enough then no worries. I hope you bought the broken parts home.

It is a pity you had to rush so decided to cut the screw. They can usually be freed with patience heat and lots of lubricant. Now go back to all the other rigging screws and unscrew them and coat liberally with grease or other lubricant. I do mine every winter so the lubricant type doesn't matter.
good luck....olewill

 

[chamac]

Thanks guys for the replys. I am investigating the sta-lock route at the moment. I thought that if I got a sta-lock fitting for the wire, I could convert the wire fitting from 19mm to a 16mm thread and get a standard 16mm by 16mm rigging screw. Another possibility would be to get a 16 by 16 screw and drill and tap one end to 19mm. Willliam, we had to cut the rigging screw in the centre first to get the mast down and then carefully cut it off the threads. At the deck the fitting has a mushroom shaped end that is captive in a fitting bolted through the deck. Its not an easy job to change and reseal this fitting. We had no choice. The staff claimed they were knocking off early despite the fact that we had them booked for later. They were still around much later that evening. They seemed amused at the rush they had caused. I will not be using or recommending Port Napoleon again because of these guys. BTW the rigging screw is 215mm long not 315 as stated in my original post.

 

[wingdiver]

Hi

One possibility is to try Fox's Rigging based in Ipswich. Not only do they have a proper rigging operation, they also sell Beneteaus there so they should know exactly what you want.

Tel No is 01473 691235

D

 

[chamac]

Thanks to all for your inputs. I contacted Richard at Foxes. He went out of his way to help. This rigging screw seems to be a bit of an oddball having two different size threads and being metric is a problem too. Sta-lok will not work because of the size of the wire. It is much larger than normally used on this size of boat. I will go the machine shop route and get one made up from scratch.