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As I am on the north side of 50 and I have a heck of a time trying to get them off/on, I was wondering if anybody has an easier to use substitute for ring dings I searched forums and got some posts from a while back that said until a suitable replacement came along... so has one come along yet

SkiDeep, I'm north of 60 and here is what we have done.

Firstly, anything that doesn't have to come off stays on. (Like the shrouds) A bit messy when its all packed up I know, but we strap everything onto the mast with cable ties (zip-ties).

For things that have to come off, (the forestay) I use a standard shackle. Not the screwdriver type, the shackle key type. Pick the right pin size.

When rigging we use side cutters for the cable ties and a shackle key for the shackles. The same two ring spanners cover all the nuts & bolts.

The last ring-ding to go was the one on the out-board steering link at the rudder. It is now an "R" pin with a string on it, so that there is something to grip and hold on to when its out.

And I carry a couple of spares for all the shackles and "R" pins on the boat. (I only drop things that I don't have a spare for.)

Tks,
Clemo,
C ya.

Clemo wrote:.....Firstly, anything that doesn't have to come off stays on. (Like the shrouds) .....
And I carry a couple of spares for all the shackles and "R" pins on the boat. (I only drop things that I don't have a spare for.)

Tks,
Clemo,
C ya.

I second that as well, I use pins through the spreaders which I pull when the mast gets lowered, and then starting at the back with small bungee cords I work my way forward securing everything to the mast including the mast raiser. It gets a bit cluttered up at the crest of the cabin but I leave loops of the shrouds there, which if I were going to trailer any distance I would look at a way to secure so that they do not "worry" the gel coat. You can get rigging tape but if you look closely at this website your about as well of just using electric tape. There are issues of the tape trapping water and causing corrosion and not coming off clean, but I am not a purist. You can replace the hardware for the price of a few seasons of the tape. Still once you have all your rigging tuned, you probably should tape the ring dings so that they don't catch your sails or body parts or especially the fishing lines.
Ron

Third!!

Rick

PS I, too, only drop things into the water for which I don't have spares (ie. expensive sunglasses, tools, bolts, etc.).

but only the wives float........

As soon as they heard I had a boat, they ALL took swimming lessons ala Julia Roberts

Rick

tangentair wrote:but only the wives float........

Yes unfortunately only the first wives float ................................cause they can afford the auto inflating life vest!
Q1

OK, I should expand on why I am even thinking of replacing ring dings. I had my mast up on dry land and am trying to adjust tension on shrouds and putting them on/off with my fingers would not work well (arthritis setting in ) and using needle nose was ok but I thought there might be something easier. I left one off because I thought I would be making another adjustment and pin fell out and rolled away And while on this subject, how do I get enough tension on shroud with the mast in up position. It has the original chain plate adjusters and I was using screwdrivers and awl/scribe to fit in holes and try to pull tight to next hole, not working well. Is there a trick to it? I don't have a loos gauge so am trying to get more tension as that's better than not tight enough, right? I could not strum them. I will be looking at changing to turnbuckles after the summer sailing season is over. I am assuming the tensioning would be much easier with turnbuckles because IMHO the chainplate adjusters suck're bleu.

There is a lot of information on this in the archives, there is even a tool described that you can make in a few minutes.
You can also search on rigging and turnbuckles and see quite a few threads on people who have and those who feel that turnbuckles may cause bends in the wire if you put the mast up regulary. I like turnbuckles but not enough to spend boat$$ on them when I have other needs more pressing. Look at how some others have rigged and you can always use a cotter pin temporarily on the pins until you get things adjusted and then put the ring dings in and tape them up - BTW We$$$T Marine sells self bonding rigging tape for $14 in the stores but it looks like it is on sale for $10 - I can get white electric tape for $3

Me again, Skideep.

It took a while, like half a season, but we got good tension.

Do slight adjustments after lowering the mast, as you pack up after sailing. Check your progress next time you step the mast.

I recall taking a lot of notes.

& I dont like turnbuckles, especially in combination with headsail furlers. I would stick with the vernier adjusters for the shrouds. After you get them right they don't get out of adjustment.

We have 25mm PVC tube over our adjusters. Nothing to catch on.

Tks,
C ya,
Clemo.

Thanks clemo, I was thinking the same thing. I was just worried I might get one too tight and then have trouble on next mast raising.

Having large hands, I was constantly having problems with the standard ringdings. Certain places I used R clips for faster disconnects, but still was not satisfied. After losing another ringding a few weeks ago and not having the exact replacement aboard, I used a larger one---about the size of a quarter. It made the job so easy, I switched out most of mine. Only took 8 years to figure a simple solution. Now I worry about "Will it back out on its own since it went on so easy?" May help in you situation.

Billy, must be psychic, just last night I was thinking , I have a box full of key ring type ring dings that are bigger and easier to get a thumb nail in to split and slide on/off. I think I may give those a try. Like you I had a hard time holding onto, plus it was getting dark and I had a flashlight in my mouth and I finally took the needlenose pliers and just deformed the dang thing and yanked it out .

Sorry guys, but I'm not giving up my RingDings.

I think the easiest way to adjust the rigging is . . .
Put the mast up, with the mast-raiser, and connect the forestay.
Check the rigging to see if any shrouds are too loose (or too tight).
Estimate how much adjustment needs to be made. Dis-connect the forestay and lower the mast slightly, taking tension off the shrouds. Adjust the upper (or lower) shrouds the same amount on both sides.
Put the mast back up and connect the forestay.
If they are still too loose (or too tight), repeat the above.