New Mac Owner with question: Using Mast Mount Bolts or Pins?

[ZagZag]

I've removed all the clevis pins with ring dings and nuts with bolts for the shrouds and the forestay and the main mast pin on my . I've replaced them all with stainless single-acting double-ball pins. I attach them with safety cable loops attached to the turnbuckles or just a loop around the mast. This way i need no tools to rig & de-rig quickly, while on the water, and I don't have to be concerned about dropping hardware into the water. The 3/8 pins have a 18,400 lb. shear strength ans 8200 lbs. per 1/4" pin. Way more than the shrouds should be exerting on the chain plates.
They are available here:
http://www.allamericanproducts.com/toolng/sngl_act.htm
I was able to find them at a local military surplus store very inexpensively.

I try to be as tool-less on the deck while on the water, but they do require a tap with a small mallet at times to get them loose. Primarily the mast pin. I try to oil them occasionally as well to keep the internal pin & ball mechanism moving freely.

These are the same pins I use to rig thousands of pound (kg. too) of concert speakers and stage rigging for touring shows, which is my part of professional background. Very reliable, especially when hanging that much weight over very important people's heads....

Just my 2 cents, they have been working well for me for a couple years & I raise & lower the mast frequently.

[ALX357]

BWY quick pins every place I can find to put them. Both places on the mast step. I can't imagine fighting the threads to put the bolts in .... hard enough to get the smooth pins thru the four metal holes when wrestling the mast ....

They are also in my custom rigged furler extensioner / tensioner, an inside the cabin, for the table leg, and ladder hinges, for easy removal.

RIng-dings, no problem for me.

[Highlander]

FYI
Beware I've had several failures with these quick release double ball lock pins in heavy weather also had the balls come out of their sockets so I now secure them with zip ties same with my ring dings so as to prevent the lines catching them & pulling them out !

J

[Sloop John B]

I had a clevis pin slip out of my mainsheet hardware. Didn't notice a thing until I spoted the pin on the cockpit sole. Judas! I was sweating the shrouds and stays but how could it fly into here? Ring ding had evaporated never to be found. Then I realized I wasn't getting full purchase with the sheet.

I have a hard time pinning the mast to the step with the bolt and nyloc. The BYU pin and bowtie pin fail to give me any relief. The baby stays are stretched to their limit and the mast rocks back and forth sideways with the weight of the foresail and cover. I have to have my mate grab the spreaders and help me. I'm not confident I could do it alone within a reasonable time. On a hot day I am practically drenched when I get that son of a buck through.

[ALX357]

As for the tightness caused by the baby-stays ... here is a pretty effective remedy.

I use the boom-vang as a block-and-tackle to help pull the mast forward enough to line up the holes for the pin. Without the extra pull of the tackle, the mast just doesn't want to be aligned AND HELD so the holes are easy to push the pin thru, but with the pull of the vang, it's alot easier to position.

I attach the running end of the vang ( the block that attaches to the boom normally ) to one of the stanchions forward of the mast step, and the vang block with the cleat to the bail at the bottom of the mast. ( I don't know if the bail is standard there, maybe not, but I easily attached a boom bail to the ends of the bolt that holds the mast plate on ... and that allows attaching blocks for the downhaul, for turning the reefing lines, etc, as well as giving a temporary attachment point for the vang to pull the mast forward into position at the last moments when pinning it.

[ALX357]

I agree with the member that warns against using the spring-ball pins for anything. Besides the reputation they have for coming out, just common sense would show that they are not suitable for critical assemblies ....

In places where there is alot of alternating tension and torsion any kind of smooth pin is prone to spin-creeping sideways ..... when in the direction that is stopped by the pin's larger head, no problem, nor if there is a ring-ding at the other end which can stop the pin end from coming thru the hole, but those little spring balls do not have enough resistance or advantage against the constant working the pin gets, and the rotating pull motion of normal usage can just pull them out eventually.

The motion I am talking about is similar to the way door hinges' pins will climb out of their holes vertically, even against gravity, if they are not seated in their all-the-way-down swaged position.