Looks Important Maybe

kloudie1 · Oct 9, 2020

funny story.. when I was in Memphis at Navy electronics school, I crewed for a good friend on Cougar class catamarans.. we had a ball.. one of his tricks was to toss a little bolt or nut or cotter into an opponents sail just before start.. The piece would fall into the cockpit and distract the skipper.. He didn't use the distraction often so it only happened once a season or so..
Like this boat:
The Story of a Cougar Catamaran

BlowMeAway · Oct 9, 2020

Bill19233 said:
Had to hammer it back in, but all the bends in the cotter pin fit the clevis pin the vang mast bracket. BlowMeAway wins the substantial prize that was offered!

Two weekends ago I was helping a friend and fellow SBO forum member install his running rigging on his new to him Tartan 41. He has a rigid vang very similar to yours. When I saw the posted image of your cotter pin it immediately hit me that it looked just like the pin on @Mohawk Jack 's mast bracket...with a similar arc. The casted recess in the bracket insert, which the clevis pin pushes through, really makes it difficult to get a pair of needle nose pliers in to get a robust bend/spread on the cotter pin. Glad you found it. Good luck with Delta coming in.

My Prize: I want a ride with you on Sunspot Baby whenever I get to Houston again.

BlowMeAway · Oct 10, 2020

Bill19233 said:
Sure, there's not many weekends the boat doesn't go out, so I should be able to acomadate you. But, you might get your picture on the local news or if it's a race, you will be in a YouTube video.

I’m OK with publicity. It’s like that feeling you get when the sun finally peeks through the cloud cover on a brisk Autumn morning. It would be an honor to sail with you.

Probably won’t travel until this COVID thing blows away. We’re already on the hard for winter storage. So sad!

Serenity on Hudson · Oct 12, 2020

Found a cotter pin on the deck in June. Looked at every cotter on the boat and all were there. Nothing has failed so will give another close look when i pull her in a few weeks. Sailing has been great this fall but I had to wear gloves last Sunday. Wished I had on a winter coat rather than just a fleece. Steady 10 knts out of the north all day until time to dock when the wind died to 2-3 knts. How did they know?

artboas · Oct 19, 2020

JRacer said:
Or, you toss one into the close -aboard competitions mainsail high up at the start and it falls to the deck!

Actually, we used to do that with nuts and a small slingshot. I agree, that it is sorta evil. Funny though.

HandsOnTech · Oct 20, 2020

Not as unnerving as having hardware hit the deck while underway. I was single-handing and as I unfurled the jib, hardware started hitting the foredeck with resounding bangs. Lots of hardware. I couldn’t see what it was, but I fully expected the mast to come crashing down. The marina woodpecker had stored nuts by tucking them into the furled jib.

BrianH · Oct 20, 2020

My wife and I were headed to one of favorite weekend spots at Put-in-Bay in Lake Erie. It was a 3 1/2 -4 hour trip on a Friday evening with winds right on the nose so we were motoring. With no other boats around, so we had the course plotted and let "Otto" do the steering while we read.

It was relatively quiet until we both heard a 'plunk' in the cockpit. I have dropped my fair share of nuts and bolts over the years to recognize that this wasn't just a tiny screw. We looked around everywhere and couldn't find the bolt. I then looked off the stern down at the ladder and saw a large hex head bolt resting against one of the rungs of the ladder. Thankfully I was able to retrieve it but now it was real panic time because that was a big bolt and it sure looked important. Again another search throughout the cockpit to try and figure out where it came from with now success.

Everything was still working and we were still 10 mile or so out, so we decided not to touch anything and continue to let "Otto" steer until we got close to our destination. Once we got close and since "Otto" was successfully steering us, I played with the manual controls on it to see if I could use that to steer if need be and found that I could. I figured in a worst case scenario I could pick up a mooring ball manually controlling "Otto".

As we got into the harbor, I disengaged "Otto" and found I had full functionality on the wheel and we made an uneventful pick-up of a mooring ball. It was dark at that point, so the only real thing to do was have a beer or two and wait until morning to go in search of the home for our wayward screw.

The next morning, I again looked all over and finally decided to pull the cover over the steering cables in the back of the cockpit. I found where our screw came from...YIKES! There are 4 screws holding a collar around the rudder post. This collar is the main connection from rudder post to the steering. One bolt was missing (the one we found) and another was backed out about 2/3 of the way. I applied lock-tite to the bolt and replaced it and then did the same for the remaining bolts. I finished the repair in plenty of time to enjoy the afternoon/evening entertainment on shore.

Never had an issue again with that. We were very thankful that we heard the bolt fall, it didn't roll overboard, I figured out where it went and it was fairly easy to fix.