Shroud U bolts leak

[bumblefish]

So the rig is up and nice and taught, now a couple of the U bolts have shown the hidden leak that was not apparent before. Can I pick a quiet day, i.e. dry and calm, slacken a bottle screw, support the shround in question with either the main or spinnaker halyard, take out the U-bolt, clean it, change the backing plate and re-bed, safely????

 

[pete]

Yes
I did this to replace the rigging on my boat one piece at a time, and that included me up the mast just pick a calm day.
Pete

 

[bumblefish]

Any thoughts on safe wind speed?

 

[VicS]

Yes but slacken off both sides leaving the locknuts in position so that you easily regain the original settings when you have finished.

If they have been leaking for long or water has been pentrating under the top plate for long be prepared to find them badly corroded. We nearly lost the mast a few years ago when one failed.(Westerly Berwick) Another broke when we started to undo the nuts although two which had been resealed some years earlier looked OK. The one which failed was over the galley and the water which leaked in simply drained into the sink so was ignored. The two which I previously resealed were above the lockers in which I stowed my clothes so received much prompter attention!

In the event we replaced all (4) U bolts.

If you do need to replace any note that they may come set to dfferent angles to suit the cap shrouds or the lowers.

 

[bumblefish]

I was thinking about replacing the entire set and installing some more substantial backing plates while I was there. No harm in doing a complete job I thought.

 

[Hardley]

I rigged an old shoud wire between two side deck cleats and secured the bottle screw to it, plus the main halyard down to a deck fitting. Then I could take my time doing the job and not worry about the wind getting up.

 

[William_H]

if you are disonnecting one shroud at a time then provided there are no sails up you shoud have no worries even with quite a bit of wind. Thgis especially if you are swinging head to wind. If you are worried then use a halyard as a tempory shroud to the gunwhale. olewill