Wire cutters for rigging

[[2574]]

Typically yachts carry wire cutters for emergency cutting of rigging. I don’t fancy my chances cutting our 12mm cap shrouds with wire cutters. Surely a battery powered grinderette has to be the tool of preference now? Has anyone tried cutting rigging with a grinderette? Successful?

 

[syvictoria]

Typically yachts carry wire cutters for emergency cutting of rigging. I don’t fancy my chances cutting our 12mm cap shrouds with wire cutters. Surely a battery powered grinderette has to be the tool of preference now? Has anyone tried cutting rigging with a grinderette? Successful?

However did we manage before power tools???!!! (Leaf blowers are the work of the devil, but I digress...! )

Will you remember to charge the battery before you have your emergency, that's the question?!

Whilst we're on the subject, how effective is a junior hack saw with a suitable (for s/s), quality blade?

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

If you do a search you'll find this debated many times. People like me who advocate knocking out the pins, the bolt cropper fans, your grinder brethren and proponents of spending small fortunes on explosive cutters.

 

[DownWest]

Where is Baylis when you need him? (RIP) A wind-up grinder would be the tool.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

However did we manage before power tools???!!! (Leaf blowers are the work of the devil, but I digress...! )

Will you remember to charge the battery before you have your emergency, that's the question?!

Whilst we're on the subject, how effective is a junior hack saw with a suitable (for s/s), quality blade?

Very

 

[DownWest]

As for 12mm, I cut over a dozen bits of rigging with a hack saw. But it was not blowing and wet. Taped up the wire then cut

 

[srm]

Having once used wire cutters ashore on 8mm 1x19 rigging my preferred tool is a hacksaw with fine tooth blade + spares. I also carry a small vice mounted on a board to hold the wire. In use I kneel on deck with one knee on the board. Have not had to use in extreme conditions but suspect sufficient adrenaline would make it work if I could not clear the rigging pins.

 

[fisherman]

Yep, there you are in the dark, boat rolling like a t**d in a p***pot as dismasted boats do, the wire in question is not sitting quietly in one spot waiting to be sawed or cut, it's snatching with every roll, cold hands, crew wailing and expecting every moment to be their next..................

I reckon there needs to be a quick release device like a pelican hook, or something like this, but bigger, obs
Fawcett Boat Supplies

 

[Graham376]

As for 12mm, I cut over a dozen bits of rigging with a hack saw. But it was not blowing and wet. Taped up the wire then cut

We carry wire cutters and have tested them on 10mm wire so know they'll work. Although I use battery tools at home, I wouldn't rely on a battery grinder to cut rig (assuming it's held it's charge) once it had been dunked in seawater in conditions where rig failure is likely.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

I have cut 10 and 12mm stainless rigging wire new and old admittedly on shore with, ordinary bolt cutters, hydraulic bolt cutters, hacksaw and a battery angle grinder with a cutting disc.
The bolt cutters were a struggle on the new wire and more so on the old the 12mm was nigh on impossible to cut.
The hydraulic cutters were no problem but totally impractical and out of the question for a small boat;
The hacksaw cut new and old with no difficulty once started.
The battery angle grinder (Hitatchi 14V) went through everything like a knife through butter.
As a result of doing all that when I changed the forestay and roller reefing on my old boat I left the bolt cutters at home and kept a hacksaw and blades and the angle grinder with two batteries on the boat. Fortunately I never had to use them but wasn't far off on one occasion.

 

[[2574]]

Thanks all, I like Fr J H’s strategy.

 

[penberth3]

I have cut 10 and 12mm stainless rigging wire new and old admittedly on shore with, ordinary bolt cutters, hydraulic bolt cutters, hacksaw and a battery angle grinder with a cutting disc.
The bolt cutters were a struggle on the new wire and more so on the old the 12mm was nigh on impossible to cut.
The hydraulic cutters were no problem but totally impractical and out of the question for a small boat;
The hacksaw cut new and old with no difficulty once started.
The battery angle grinder (Hitatchi 14V) went through everything like a knife through butter.
As a result of doing all that when I changed the forestay and roller reefing on my old boat I left the bolt cutters at home and kept a hacksaw and blades and the angle grinder with two batteries on the boat. Fortunately I never had to use them but wasn't far off on one occasion.

Agree with all of that esp. the bolt cutters - they're not designed to cut wire rope - there is a clue in the name!

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

Anyone else been careless enough to have actually lost their mast? The boat rolls horribly, as @fisherman says. There is absolutely no way I could have used bolt croppers - you have to hold on with at least one hand. I tapped out all the shroud and backstay pins easily, and would have sawn the forestay if a) we hadn't been able to lift the mast back on board once untangled, or b) I hadn't been able to drift the pin out.

Away from a vice I've found that a junior hacksaw is the best way to cut ss wire, thinner cut, less work.

 

[rib]

Anyone else been careless enough to have actually lost their mast? The boat rolls horribly, as @fisherman says. There is absolutely no way I could have used bolt croppers - you have to hold on with at least one hand. I tapped out all the shroud and backstay pins easily, and would have sawn the forestay if a) we hadn't been able to lift the mast back on board once untangled, or b) I hadn't been able to drift the pin out.

Away from a vice I've found that a junior hacksaw is the best way to cut ss wire, thinner cut, less work.

As i have stated on the old thread .i was demasted off portlandbill on a 47 bav. Got rid of the lot by using bolt cutters (veryold ones ) chewing the wire more than clean cutting .and the pins in some places were under so much pressure you would never move them ..though we did manage to remove some ..and access angle to get a good hit can be darn right impossible on some

 

[Neeves]

A pelican hook bolt cropper allows the wire to be held in one place in the jaws of the device.

You also need something to cut the running rigging - dyneema is an issue.

Jonathan

 

[[2574]]

Drifting the pins out always seems very unlikely to me, once the pin has exited one side of the turnbuckle claw or toggle it’s surely bound to jamb solid as the pin moves to less than perpendicular under the weight of the rigging. Then it’s impossible to move for sure.

 

[Stemar]

I'm going to have to think about my strategy for Jazzcat, with much heavier rigging, but on Jissel, a 24 footer, I reckoned I had a better chance of cutting the turnbuckles or the threaded ends of the rigging than the wire itself with bolt cutters.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

Drifting the pins out always seems very unlikely to me, once the pin has exited one side of the turnbuckle claw or toggle it’s surely bound to jamb solid as the pin moves to less than perpendicular under the weight of the rigging. Then it’s impossible to move for sure.

Any loaded pin would need thought, but in our case either there was no significant load (or we were able to relieve it) on all but the last one. Again, in our case, that was the forestay and getting croppers on that would have been more than awkward. Drifting might have worked because the boat was pitching, but a junior hacksaw would have been effective. A grinder with a thin disc would ne nice but I don't know how long it would run for once immersed?

 

[Daydream believer]

Anyone else been careless enough to have actually lost their mast? The boat rolls horribly, as @fisherman says. There is absolutely no way I could have used bolt croppers - you have to hold on with at least one hand. I tapped out all the shroud and backstay pins easily, and would have sawn the forestay if a) we hadn't been able to lift the mast back on board once untangled, or b) I hadn't been able to drift the pin out.

Away from a vice I've found that a junior hacksaw is the best way to cut ss wire, thinner cut, less work.

Must have been a pretty small mast to lift it back on board. I only have a 31 ft boat but no way could I haul the mast back if there was only 3 of us. If it was flat water a block & tackle to drag one end aboard might be possible but to be honest with all the ropes & wires that would be floating about as well as sails. I would rather rid myself of the lot, to avoid the possibility of getting any of it round the prop. That would then totally disable the boat

 

[northwind]

This is worth a watch..