What size bolt cutters for emergency cutting rigging away?

Burnham Bob

Burnham Bob

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I've been advised that on the basis that if you've got them you'll never need them, that a set of bolt cutters is a good emergency stand by in case the mast falls over and the rigging needs cutting.

If so what size do I need? - they come in sizes from 8" to 36". And no I can't remember the size of the shrouds in mm.......but it's a Trapper 500 so its not going to be anything out of the ordinary.

Or is it an unnecessary expense?
 
I've always taken the view that I could undo the turnbuckles if I had to dump the mast. However, I would first of all be wanting to recover what I could if only to try to jury rig something to limp home with.

I would probably take a different view if I went blue water cruising, but it would still be a last resort to consign it all to the depths.

Not sure about cutting rigging with a hacksaw. It's hard enough doing that on dry land. An onboard angle grinder would whistle through it though.
 
My bolt cutters stand about 4ft tall. I have used them to sliceing through a seized bolt once but that is all.
It went through a decent sized bolt with no effort at all like a red hot knife through butter.
 
Rigger Mortice said:
An onboard angle grinder would whistle through it though.
Click to expand...

Met a chap in a faraway place with a heavy 56ft yacht. He lost his mast (in fair weather). Went round the deck with mains angle grinder (run from his generator) and all the mast, rigging and sails were away within 45 minutes. The insurance claim was in excess of £90K, which was smartly paid up.
 
Rigger Mortice said:
I've always taken the view that I could undo the turnbuckles if I had to dump the mast.
Click to expand...

Maybe some of them, but it could be very difficult for any that are under load, have been bent or buckled, or simply ended up facing the wrong direction (eg pin hard against the deck so you can't remove it).

Pete
 
prv said:
Maybe some of them, but it could be very difficult for any that are under load, have been bent or buckled, or simply ended up facing the wrong direction (eg pin hard against the deck so you can't remove it).

Pete
Click to expand...

Fair point.
I just hope that it's something I never have to try out.
 
Our Felco C16 cutters barely make a dent on our rigging.
In fairness I have seen a rigger successfully cut 2 lengths of 10mm rigging with C16 but he really struggled and was exhausted afterwards.
I have since learnt that Felco do one specifically for stays etc.
FELCO C108 cable cutter up to 8mm

First thing I would use would be the cordless angle grinder.
We also have the shoot-it device

The Felco cutter is really useful for cutting lengths of rope which is all it gets used for.
 
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I've always subscribed to the 'take out the clevis pins' approach.

I have had a mast come down, and the clevis pins came out with little or no difficulty. I left the forestay attached so that the rig would have made a useful drogue, but in the event we got it all back on board.

Another theory that I had was also proved. When the mast comes down, the roll period of the boat becomes horrifically brief, and using heavy (and they have to be to be effective) bolt cutters on a wet grp deck would have been more than a little challenging.

A cordless mini grinder would be my back up method these days.
 
I bought a rolson 24" cutter to cut the tails of my 5mm rigging when I installed a new mast, and I keep it on board because its more use there tahn in my garage.
It has done 2 more boats since.

It goes through 5mm like butter, a clean quick cut ( a few seconds per stay) and I keep an offcut of 5mm to check it still does from time to time.

I would like to think I could fashion a jury rig, but I wouldn't like to have to unscrew bent or trapped bottlescrews if the fallen mast is trying to bash holes in the hull.
 
Give one of these some serious consideration:

http://www.s3i.co.uk/Baudat-Wire-Rope-Cutter-8mm.html
available from a number of retailers

Slices through stainless rigging with ease, much smaller than bolt cutter, ratchet clamps onto the wire and you can use it one handed (whilst holding onto the boat with the other...)

No intrest other than I have one and think the are the db's
 
I have suffered a few mast overboards in my lifetime always on smaller boats less than 23 ft and always in shaltered waters. I have always managed to remove clevis pins to disconnect the stays and get the mast on board. I have always used a mainsial with bolt rope in the mast track. This becomes a real pain as the track collapses you can't easily remove the mainsail. Mostly the pieces of mast are hauled aboard and lashed down on deck then motor home. (with long face).
However in fiddling with rigging especially old stay wires. The wires are generally best cut with wire cutters. ie the parrot beak like bypass cutters. Wires tend to crush and spread rather than cut with bolt cutters. On the other hand to cut say the threaded section of turnscrews bolt cutters would be best.
The best bet is to actually try wire curters or bolt cutters in the workshop. You will need old rigging wire to test it on.
Certainly ocean racing rules require the carriage of gear to cut rigging so some experts think it necessary to do so. Makes it kind of obligatory for us all to carry cutters if we venture far from land. Certainly I see a lot of masts come down at our club. So many that none of us can feel it will never happen to me. good luck olewill
Just to explain I have contact with about 40 sail boats from 20ft to 43 ft at our club. I reckon over the years at least one mast per season is lost. Often from wire failure due to old age. Sometimes from chain plate failure.
 
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William_H said:
Certainly I see a lot of masts come down at our club. So many that none of us can feel it will never happen to me.
Just to explain I have contact with about 40 sail boats from 20ft to 43 ft at our club. I reckon over the years at least one mast per season is lost. Often from wire failure due to old age. Sometimes from chain plate failure.
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That seems a remarkably high rate of attrition. Our club has maybe 60-80 sailing cruisers, some of whom race regularly, I reckon I can only remember maybe 4 or 5 lost masts over the last 30+ years. Someone down under is doing something terribly wrong.
 
I was setting up for safety checks for a race and they wanted to know that the bolt croppers(about 4 feet in length) on board would be up to cutting the rod rigging, so I got a bolt bigger than the rod rigging, cut it and tapped the bits to the croppers as proof.
During the race we lost the mast, tried to cut the rigging but the croppers hardly even marked the rod, turned out it was Nickel Cobalt so we ended up unscrewing the bottle screws which were below deck.
So now I would remove the rigging pins, or unscrew the bottle screws or go for the hacksaw with spare blades taped to it.
 
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