MacGregorSailors.com

PLease can someone show me how the RAT works. We can not get it over here in the UK and I want to see if I can make my own. The trouble is having looked at the ones on here I can not for the life of me see how they work. thanks

leon

Contact Bill at Boats for sail. Hes a member. I got one from him and used it to make the single largest performance improvements to My boat. "A properly adjusted rig"

Unfortunately he does not post to the UK, if he did i think I might have a few of his products.

Maybe you can help with how the RAT works???? Pictures appreciated

Anyone please explain how they work. cheers

leon

There is a way to use two awls to adjust the rig. It is easier to do than explain, but you have to keep your wits about you.
TWO TAPERED AWLS, of good quality hard steel (stay out of the Chinese bargain bin ) pointed and tapered with a diameter of just slightly smaller than the size of the adjuster holes, but having a point that will enter the smaller spaces of partially blocked holes. Hardware stores usually have the right size as the most common.
Stick in the first awl, into a hole (holes) that just barely tightens the two adjuster pieces. Make sure it is in far enough to be past the taper, on the flat diameter, so it can't be squeezed out by the shroud tension. Then remove the ring-ding and pin that holds the two pieces of the adjuster together. Find a hole thru the adjuster that will either loosen or tighten the adjusters, depending on which way you want to go, and stick in the second awl, working it against the holes until they line up thru and allow the awl to get close to all the way in, then holding tension against it, pull the first one partially out to allow the adjuster to move and accept the second one. By degrees, it is easy to move the adjuster's plates in or out. Adjustment needs to be by degrees anyway, and this allows you to keep track of how tight/loose the stay is getting.
Note that you are doing this without wind-sail tension on the stay, (surely) and that doing one stay at a time, means that the other one will maintain the mast up.

I keep two awls, tethered together with about three feet of line, to avoid dropping one into the drink. Just wrap the tether line one turn around the base of the shroud you are working on. Note that the awls are also functionally the same as the familiar marine marlinspike, real useful for unjamming tight knots in halyards, docklines, etc.

The vice-grip based adjusters may be easier to understand, at first, but that lever with the pins is a mystery to me. Stick the lever pins into two holes and twist ?? I see the principle, for one dimension, but then the plates are going to be too far apart laterally to pin together again. Does any one else understand this tool, well enough to explain it coherently ?

Basically, you attach the bolts to the upper and to the lower shroud adjusters. You then pull the pin out of the adjuster that you want to tighten and use the lever action to move the tang down to where you want it and pop the pin back in.

CFCassidy wrote:Basically, you attach the bolts to the upper and to the lower shroud adjusters. You then pull the pin out of the adjuster that you want to tighten and use the lever action to move the tang down to where you want it and pop the pin back in.

Im sorry what lever action? If you put them in as you say then the "handle" will be pointing either up or down, so the only action would be sideways. I appreciate I may be thick here but I just do not see it. Perhaps you caould try again but pretend you talking to a 5 yrs old!!!!!!


cheers

leon

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here is a picture.

DOH! Please try again with the picture.

Thanks

Leon

I see the picture fine...

Got it!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks very much, I can see now how it works, but only if you have two side by side; as we do on the Mac. This will not work then on the life lines up and down the sides of the boat. Im working on a simple but effective tool.

cheers

Leon

You do not want or need the lifelines tighter than you can do by hand. The rigging, on the other hand, needs to be VERY tight. Much tighter than you can get by hand.

Now that mystery tool makes sense, attaches to one stay and adjusts the other one.... seems odd to pull on different stay to adjust ...

Apparently nobody thinks much of the "two awls" technique I described.

Bill's RAT
I make my RAT from an Irwin Vise-Grip, bar code # 38548 00017, "6R" is stamped on it so I guess that is the model #.
I drill a 1/8" hole in both of the uper corners, and put a # 10 machine screw in each and a nut.
Insert one of the screws into a hole in the adjuster strap, about one full hole from where it enters the adjuster channel, from the side the ring-pin is on. Put a nut on the screw to keep it from coming off.
Spread open the two sides of the handle.
Turn the knurled knob of the V-G until you can insert the other machine screw into a hole in the adjuster channel about one full hole beyond the end of the strap inside it. Put a nut on it.
Remove the ring pin and the clevis pin. Squeeze the RAT handle until you can get another set of holes to aline, and insert the clevis pin. You do not have to get it completely tight the first time. If you want to get it tighter, remove one, or both of the machine screws and repeat the process. You might have to squeeze the handle slightly to remove the clevis pin.
When adjusting the shrouds, only tighten them a few holes at a time, because the hole spacing has to match on both sides. Go to the other side and tighten the shroud to the same set of holes.