Backstay "BANG"

[Frayed Knot]

Need help finding a part.  Yesterday wife,son and two other guest.  We were about 15 miles out and it was 6 to 8 foot seas and 15 to 20 knot winds.  We had our first reef in and Frayed Knot was in its grove.  Tack to head back in and BANG.  The backstay brakes or should I say the screw that goes into the turnbuckle.  I will try to post pictures if you could tell me the name of this part and where I can find them.                      Thanks,   Dick Martin

[Dolce_Vita]

Wow!  You're incredibly lucky the whole rig didn't come down!

Those are the old, original Navtec style turnbuckles, with the harps on the ends and a double-ended screw stud in the middle, popular in the 70's.  Newer, modern turnbuckles have a single open harp in the center and threaded studs on the ends.  The Navtecs may still be available from Rigging Only: http://www.riggingonly.com/stdrig04.htm#TURNBUCKLES

I have never seen one fail this way! Usually they fail at the lower swage, or (for the shrouds) the chainplate breaks below deck due to hidden crevice corrosion. I suspect this one may have experienced some abnormal lateral stress in the past, causing a fatigue crack to start in the stud.

Because this one broke, I would critically examine the rest of them with a magnifier.  Pay particular attention to the upper shrouds, as they have some of the highest loading and have the least redundancy.

I just replaced all my standing rigging, and have the old turnbuckle bodies.  I'd be happy to send you the backstay one, but I strongly advise you to inspect all the remaining ones, and the chainplates, and institute a schedule to replace them. You can do them one or two at a time (with the mast up) to spread out the financial hit over a few seasons, or bite the bullet and pull the mast and do them all at once as I did.

When reassembling a turnbuckle, be sure to use an appropriate thread lube, such as lanolin (natural) or Tef-Gel (synthetic) on the threads or they will gall-up and jam when tightening.

[Frayed Knot]

Ed, Thanks for the information. Have 3 coming from Rigging Only, the lower shrouds are a different size so when I go back to the boat I will measure for them...  You were right about the mast not coming down. Thanks to my son (ERIC) to be able to react as fast as he did.  He dropped the sails, tightened the topping lift (adjustable). pulled the main sheets as tight as he could.  Rigged up snatch blocks to the backstay and used the winches to tighten the backstay.  I am sure that it being a keel stepped mast helped too.  From point A to point B and back to A is a good day for me.  Thanks

[Frayed Knot]

Coming back after a hard sail for about 14 hours the other week.  About an hour before we are at the jetty's it feels like we hit something soft but I pay it no mind.  Last week when I took my foresail down I noticed that the back stay was really loose.  Guess I better send my son up to see what's going on.  Really don't want to have to put all new rigging in.  Just sent my sails off to Sail Care.