Page 309 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

Attitude in place for a while, giving you a chance to spot the
Before starting, stand back for a minute and get missing cotter?
into “survey mode,” a state in which you see and As you make your list, feel free to let your cat-
feel the rig as a balanced, integrated whole. Take egories overlap; you’ll get a more complete list and
in the details of running and standing rigging, and a clearer idea of how rig components inter- relate.
feel how they interrelate with mast, sails, and hull. For instance, some spreader fastenings secure the
Entering this frame of mind is going to do you at spreader to the wire, and some secure the spreader
least as much good as the usual procedure—starting base to the mast. But good fastenings are only as
with a list of Things to Look For. By envisioning the strong as what they’re fastened to. In this case, wire
whole rig, you’ll be inclined to notice if something is sometimes will suffer chafe or accelerated fatigue
missing, or could lead better, or is worn. where it passes over spreader tips; check the wire’s
Next, stir in some general ideas to give your condition and the suitability of the tips as well as the
gestalt a little focus. The most succinct survey rules condition of the fastenings. Then see if the spreader
I know of are these four from yacht designer Eva angles up, as it should, to bisect the angle formed by
Holman: the shroud. If it doesn’t, the wire is always trying to
push the tip down..
1. If it is fastened, it will try to undo itself.
Chafe For Rule 2, the Certainty of Chafe, look
2. If it touches something, it will try to chafe not just for gouges and tears but also for shiny
itself or that other something to death. spots—something’s been rubbing there. And avoid
the trap of looking only where you expect chafe to
3. If it is slack, it will try to snag something. be. I knew a boat on which the crew always made
off the running backstays well forward when not in
4. If it is metal, it will try to corrode itself or its use, to avoid chafing the mainsail. Instead, the run-
neighbor. ners chafed on the after edge of the lower spreaders.
Moderate pressure combined with the movement of
Details the vessel was all it took for the spreaders and wires
Armed with an informed attitude, you can now to saw into each other.
make up a list, enumerating as many details as you Sometimes chafe is hidden, so get in the habit
can think of. This list will be more complete in the of ducking and squinting into unlikely spaces, like
state of mind you’re now in than it would be if you’d the underside of standing rigging terminals. I once
begun in classic Western analytical mode. saw a rig in which a sheer pole threaded through
the upper jaws of the turnbuckles chafed most of
Unfastening For example, things that will try to the way through the eyesplices on the lower ends
unfasten themselves can range from the bolts secur- of the shrouds. All it took to spot it was a cursory
ing chainplates to the pin restraining your windvane, crouched-down look, but for years no one crouched.
with spreader bolts, link plates, toggles, screws, Running rigging chafe is usually obvious
antenna wiring ties, and sheave pins in between. It because the line is always literally passing through
can include swages, Sta-Loks, and other wire termi- your hands. Sheaves, stays, cleats, hawses, and stop-
nals; sail track, bolts, and lashings; welds and glue pers tend to bear repeatedly at the same point; get in
joints; and on and on. You can even get compound the habit of checking known chafe points so you can
fastenings: say, a cotter pin holding a clevis pin. Is end-for-end or adjust the length of the line before
the cotter secure and in good condition? If it should chafe becomes too severe. To adjust length, cut off a
fall or get pulled out, is the clevis head downward short length at the working end, then reattach. This
so it, too, will fall out, or head upmost so it will stay moves fresh line onto the chafing area.

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