I recently purchased NS 30u, Breezing Up (name to be changed to To Your Shore) in Houston. Sailed shake down cruise Houston to Rockport (Texas). We were motor sailing with one reef in. Seas were semi-rough. We hit bottom of one wave maybe 6’ max. and the collar at base of mast that holds shackles and line controls broke. We managed to get sail down and secure halyard. Then the choker line broke. The topping lift runs through a shackle on the collar so we had to rig another shackle to forward rail to raise the boom off of the Bimini. We had already been sailing for 24+ hours when this occurred and we motored the rest of way to Rockport. My (new owner not familiar with Nonsuch rigging) question is did we do something to cause failure of collar and if so what? How should collar be re-attached? I know we have different metals at this connection that requires special attention. Down here we do not have many riggers familiar with Nonsuch rigs. Should I try to get someone from Mike Quill rigging to look at it? I have attached pictures. The bolts that hold the “C” collar clamp to mast failed and part of stainless housing bent. As a new owner I am obviously disappointed but cannot figure out what we did that could have caused failure. We were fortunate to get her out of the gulf and home.
Definitely contact Mike Quill. He has both the parts and the knowledge to fix this. My fairlead collar is actually cracked and he is prepping a replacement to send me, but I’m still sailing in light conditions without apparently problems until it arrives. But bolts breaking? That is a serious bummer. That is a 304 stainless bolt you are holding in the third photo. I think it should have been 316 stainless or better. If you are lucky, you’ll only need the bent stainless part and some new bolts, but if your fairlead collar is damaged those durned bolts are going to cost you a lot of money.
Murf,
As an INA member, you can get a free consult with Mike by logging on to www.Nonsuch.org, clicking on the MEMBERS tab, selecting MAINTENANCE from the menu, and going for the line which reads, “New: submit mast and rigging questions…”
– Bob
Me Gusta
Nonsuch e26U #233
Hi Murf
I looked at your pictures and don’t think you did anything in particular wrong. It may have been a simple matter of one bolt breaking and causing a cascade of events.
I have noticed over the last few years that, as the fleet gets older, the stainless bolts are corroding and snapping off. What is happening is corrosion between the 2 metals and this goes undetected because they are usually hidden in a casting. This sounds counterintuitive but I’ve pulled bolts out of mast heel castings that were hour glass shaped due to corrosion.
If your fairlead collar is unbroken, I would remove the hardware, have it glass bead blasted by a metal re finisher and then clear coat it. The flange clamp on the forward side probably can be bent back in shape and reinstalled. Any reputable machine shop should be able to do this.
Once you have this done, coat the fastenings with Tef Gel before re assembly and use lock washers instead of Lock Tite.
Any questions give me a call.
Cheers
Mike Quill