Shredders vs Sweaters
Shredders are sharp, pointy, hurty, and cause wounds. Sweaters are soft, snuggly, and comforting. We replaced our shredders with sweaters. Let me explain.
A sailboat’s standing rigging can be made of stranded wire under tension that connects to hard points on the boat and the mast to keep the mast upright. The stranded wire is connected to the turnbuckles with swaged or swageless fittings. And usually the turnbuckles are near the deck to make them easily accessible to adjust the tension of the rigging. The turnbuckles, as their name suggests, turn to add or release tension. They act as big screws and nuts to tighten and release pressure. But for the majority of the time, especially in a cruising sailboat where safety and convenience is higher priority than sail shape and performance, the tension remains mostly constant and is not adjusted frequently.
s stated above, a turnbuckle is a specialized form of a nut and bolt. Nuts and bolts can loosen themselves when subject to vibration and movement which is why we have lock washers, nylon locking nuts, seizing wire, and other forms of preventing the nuts and bolts from turning.
The turnbuckle body is the equivalent of a “nut” in a nut and bolt combination.
A sailboat is constantly subject to vibration and movement, even when sitting at the dock but especially underway. Those vibrations and changes in tension can loosen things, including the turnbuckles. A sailor doesn’t want the turnbuckle to turn unless we want it to as unwanted turning could mean loosening which could change the tension. In order to keep the turnbuckle from turning, we need a mechanism to prevent it from turning but due to how turnbuckles are designed, a typical lock washer or nylon locking nut won’t do the job.
Not only should the mechanism prevent the turnbuckle from turning, it also needs to be easily and quickly removable in an emergency. Sailboat masts have snapped and fallen down. It’s true. And if a mast fails the standing rigging can remain connected to the mast. In those situations the standing rigging may need to be cut away. We do keep heavy duty bolt cutters aboard S/V Yara for exactly this reason as we may need to cut away the standing rigging connected to the mast should the mast fall down. A fallen mast could compromise the integrity of the hull, break off or bend a rudder, fowl a propeller, bend a prop shaft, etc. The bolt cutters could be used to quickly cut away the rigging to free the mast from the boat.
But what if the situation doesn’t require us to cut away the mast? Could we unscrew the nut and bolt of the turnbuckle to free the standing rigging? Yup! But remember we said above the turnbuckle normally shouldn’t turn? So how would you unscrew the turnbuckle if it shouldn’t normally unscrew?
I gotchu. Keep on readin’ on.
Traditionally most boats will use a cotter pin. Or aboard S/V Yara we call them “cutter” pins (more on that below). A cotter pin is a piece of metal wire folded over on itself. Like this:
The cutter pin is inserted in the hole at the end of the “bolt” that forms the turnbuckle. The split ends are folded outwards to keep the cotter pin from falling out. If the turnbuckle wanted to turn on its own it couldn’t because the cotter pin jams itself against the turnbuckle assembly.
Can you see how a cotter pin inserted in that hole would keep the turnbuckle from turning?
But just look at that cotter pin. Can you see how it could cut? Can you see why we call it a CUTTER PIN?!? It can CUT you.
Walking on deck of most cruising sailboats means navigating small spaces around standing rigging. And to be accessible for ease of inspection, maintenance, and emergency response, the turnbuckles and their cutter pins are usually ankle/calf/shin high! These little cutter pins can jump out and cut a bitch!
And we’ve been cut multiple times. And how many times on a nice sunny and calm day with our friends aboard in swimsuits have we had to say…”watch out for the cutter pins!” too many times.
No more cutting pins!
Enter the round softness of split rings. Or more commonly known as key rings.
No sharp and pointed tips to cut a b!
We replaced our cotter pins with split rings. They solve the requirements of being easy and quick to remove with the bonus of being round so they don’t cut.
But don’t just dig into your junk drawer or buy keychains from the dollar store. Split rings can be made of high quality marine-grade materials such as 316 stainless steel. Before ordering, make sure the diameter of the split ring surpasses the width of the turnbuckle so that the split ring interferes in the assembly of the turnbuckle and prevents the turnbuckle from turning.
This has been an affordable and easy upgrade that we’d recommend to all cruising sailboats. No longer are our shins being shredded, instead we’ve got soft sweaters.
Other bonuses of split rings:
Split rings, or key rings, are common in everyday life. Detailed how-to instructions to crew on how to remove them is not necessary.
Split rings are easy to use. Unlike cutter pins, no tools are necessary to use a split ring.
The tips of cotter pins deform after the first bending. Straightening them completely is usually no longer possible and removing them requires pliers. Cotter pins can be reused but the deforming means they can be difficult to push through the small holes of a turnbuckle.
Did we say….no sharp points to cut a b!
