For want of a nail (cotter pin)....a mast was lost

[DSqr]

It was a beautiful day Saturday on Lake Michigan as we set sail from Racine, WI with winds out of the northwest at 12-18 knots and 2-4' seas. Out of caution I had a single reef in the main on my Hunter 376.

We bought the boat at the end of last season and I had the main recut, added a Strong track, and all new electronics. I've sailed over 100 miles in short trips this year and this was just one more tune-up before my wife and I began to take longer trips along the lake shore

We tacked back toward Racine, after about 90 minutes so that I could get my 3 crew members back for their club dinner. About 20 minutes into the new course we heard the sound of metal screeching and then I saw the roller furling drum swing up to the left and the mast twisted to the right and dropped down onto the deck and over the starboard rail. The dodger frame deflected the mast and protected us from injury. Friends on two different boats heard our mayday and surrounded us until the Racine Sheriff's boat could tow us in.

Looking at the bottom of the furling drum I can see that the tang is spread open, indicating that as the clevis pin worked its way out, the stress on the tang caused it to open an then fail completely. My guess is that the yard forget to safety the clevis pin after installing the new radar and wind instruments

BoatUS's surveyor will take a look on Wednesday to assess the damages. I'm attaching a few shots.

 

[Stu Jackson]

My guess is that the yard forget to safety the clevis pin after installing the new radar and wind instruments

Wow, so sorry to hear about your plight.

Do you not personally inspect your rig before you go sailing?

I recall some guy in the 1980s who said something like: "Trust, but verify."

 

[DSqr]

That was the first thing that came to mind, after the mast came down. I think the same guy also said that hind-sight is always 20/20.

Next time...

 

[Tsam]

It hurts to see that. Sorry for your loss. With something as deadly as a mast falling it is imperative to do visual inspection of all fittings at beginning of each trip out. Just like small plane pilots do. Things do shift, bend and break more regularly that we admit. Interesting how the mast broke off cleanly at the base.

 

[The Garbone]

Yikes,

Problem is that pin is under the furler drum, think I will stick my head down there to look next time out. Easy to miss.

 

[Rick D]

Sorry about your mast. The two times I had a rigging failure on my own boats were after yard work. One I caught when I saw the leward stay swinging off the chainplate. The second time was exactly the same. I found the cotter pin on the deck the one time. I have no idea how it came out; the pin itself was gone. The second time, the pin was on the deck but no cotter pin. I had looked over things after the install, but evidently not closely enough.

 

[weinie]

Why the mayday?

 

[sailnewbie]

Sorry to see that, in your defense you had professional working on your boat so you shouldn't have to re-check, as a mechanic myself I've never had anyone pull the wheels of thier truck to verify I put the brakes on corretly and they shouldn't have to, I certainly would never use them again

 

[Jackdaw]

Sorry about the rig, glad all are OK.

Fractional Marconi rigs are full of single points of failure. Any one of the shrouds (or the forestay) goes and its bye-bye to the whole shooting match. A weekly walk through is a great idea. We adjust our rig before every sail; it makes inspection easy. Good habit.

 

[cb32863]

I got to experience something similar back in May. My issue was a ring coming out on the lower starboard shroud pin. I got great GoPro video of it all too.... No one hurt but, a serious lesson learned as well. New mast should be here Monday the 18th, or so.... I am planning on a full write up once we are back sailing.

 

[JohnVTX]

Looks like boat didn't suffer any significant damage. Glad nobody was hurt.

 

[Patrick17430]

OMG The same exact thing happened to us on a 2000 Hunter 380 in Gulf of Mexico 8 years ago. Cotter pin was the culprit. Mast came down on the arch right where my 10 year old son was seated on the starboard rail perch. After 2 hours of trying to salvage as much as we could, all we could do was cut it all loose and watch it sink because the rigging was sawing through the coach roof with the motion of the water. The incident was investigated by Hunter and found to be just a freak accident. Me thinks not now. Let me know if you need any info about what happen because somethings not right with Hunters equipment. Sound like there needs to be a recall. I can contact the boats owner and hook you up if need be.

 

[kimelmore]

I hate hearing stories like this. I am an airworthiness inspector in an aviation maintenance repair facility. One of my responsibilities is to ensure that items that require safety devices such as cotter pins ( don't even get me started on those stupid rings folks use ) or safety wire, actually do get the required safety. The mechanics accept as a matter of course that although I trust them to do it, I need to verify since many times it is a safety of flight item with a "SINGLE POINT OF FAILURE". It is extremely rare that I or any of the other inspectors find a problem but it does occasionally happen. Usually it's because it was due to a job not being completed by the end of shift and it got missed during turnover or such. In a boat yard there is no additional layer or oversight for safety so as boat owners we have to provide that by ourselves. That is not to say that the boatyard is not totally to blame. You hired them to do a job and it wasn't completed properly. As a side note, I have noticed so many times that when using a 'split pin' or what I call a cotter pin, the pins are not bent properly to keep them from working loose.
Here is a link to the FAA guidance on cotter pin usage if anyone is curious:
http://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/Chapter_07.pdf

The information is on page 7-26

 

[SFS]

@kimelmore I'll bite. What the issue with the circle clips?

I had to laugh when I read the FAA material on cotter pins: "Their use is favored because they can be removed and installed quickly". Not true in my experience. They are a b*t*h to remove, and to bend properly.

 

[sailnewbie]

Circle rings work great for me, quick on/off

 

[Jackdaw]

I got to experience something similar back in May. My issue was a ring coming out on the lower starboard shroud pin. I got great GoPro video of it all too.... No one hurt but, a serious lesson learned as well. New mast should be here Monday the 18th, or so.... I am planning on a full write up once we are back sailing.

There's VIDEO??????? Share with the class! ;^)

 

[LeslieTroyer]

Why the mayday?

I agree - why "mayday" -- lives don't appear to be in imminent danger. PAN seems much more appropriate.

I'm sorry you lost your rigging - I hope any settlement comes out favorable.

 

[cb32863]

There's VIDEO??????? Share with the class! ;^)

All in due time.....

 

[cb32863]

I'll bite. What the issue with the circle clips?

I had to laugh when I read the FAA material on cotter pins: "Their use is favored because they can be removed and installed quickly". Not true in my experience. They are a b*t*h to remove, and to bend properly.

That's kind of the point as I had a circle ring work loose then the pin popped out and down comes the mast. I will probably be switching to cotter pins with the new rig.

 

[Ron20324]

I have circles all over the boat. If one of appropriate size "worked loose", then there's another story there somewhere.