Of running rigging and hose clamps

[enovillo]

I started sailing 21 years ago; racing dinghies and J-24's exclusively, so my experience with "big" cruising sailboats with wheels for steering is limited to seeing them sail by while freezing my butt off on my Laser's wet and rugged deck.

Last fall my wife and I bought Alexandra, a 1982 Hunter 33. On Alexandra, we found several lines (e.g., main sheet, boom vang) that weren't neatly spliced to wrap around beckets. This has typically been the case on most boats I've sailed, and we solved the problem with a not-so-smooth-looking bowline.

But the lines on our Hunter were spliced with one or two stainless steel hose clamps. When I first saw this while checking out the boat I thought that would never be acceptable on a race boat. And the more I think about it, the less sense it makes. The potential for chafe and injury is just too much for my liking. I now have 8 or 9 hose clamps sitting in my spares box.

Is this a common practice? Do people on cruising boats prefer hose clamps instead of a bowline? I'm really curious.

 

[Richard Shelby]

Hose clamp? Arrggh... Bowline? only as an emergency repair.

Learn to make a becket splice with double braid. Hours of fun:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sQn5ZMKgNI&feature=PlayList&p=F252385EAC5F11A3&playnext=1&index=4

 

[Benny]

Is this a trick question? We find it just as asinine as you do.

 

[enovillo]

Benny, no trick question. I honestly thought it might be preferred and I consider myself a newbie, so I asked.

Richard, thanks for that video. I'll add "Learn to make a becket splice" to the already over-populated boat to-do list

 

[Paul F]

Crazy hose clamps - I have never seen it. What else unusual have you found on the boat. I have a 1980 33 and the worst I found was lamp wire used to repair the wiring. But, here is a knot that can replace a becket splice. The Buntline Hitch, it is strong and with stronger modern line it works very well, with little effort to tie.
http://www.animatedknots.com/buntli...ge=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com
It can be trimmed tight and makes a small knot.

 

[enovillo]

Paul, thanks for the buntline hitch link. I'll give it a shot.

Another weird thing I've found is that the genoa halyard is a 3-strand nylon line, I'd say 1/2" diameter. But it gets even stranger: this line wasn't used to hoist the genoa, I'm guessing it might've been used to lift a dinghy. The furler doesn't have a swiveling top that's attached to both the sail and the halyard. My guess is the top has been lost or this old furler was designed to not need the use of a proper halyard.

The furler has a stainless steel cable spliced with a thin, stretchy line, that forms a loop and moves two sliders (one on each track of the foil) up and down.

I don't like the idea of not using a halyard, but right now I have no choice. If I use the halyard, it'll wrap around the foil at the top. Hopefully the furler was designed like that.

 

[Paul F]

weird genoa halyard - be careful. Would recommend you not use it until you understand how it works. As you said the top should turn along with the base. Stretchy line has no use as a halyard.

 

[Ray T]

It's always interesting to me how some people rig their boats with no idea about the best or safest way of rigging things or the best way to sail efficiently. It just seems to me that if you really like to sail you would invest a little time in learning the best way of doing it like maybe reading a book. Oh well, that's my rant for the day. I'm refering to the p.o.

 

[Ed Schenck]

There are at least a couple of furlers that do not use a swivel for the halyard. Spin-Tec is one: http://spin-tec.com/pages/system.html . There was a thread recently about another but I forget the name.

 

[enovillo]

Thanks again, Ed. I learned this morning that it's actually not that uncommon. CDI also makes a furler that uses an internal cable-rope halyard in the foil (http://www.sailcdi.com/sailpdf/FF2 manual 7_06.pdf).

I did, however, buy a length of low-stretch 3/8" line to use instead of the stretchy one currently in place (which looks like the type of string you'd use to open/close heavy curtains).