Posted: Aug 31, 2021 - 09:48 PM
Decades ago, when wandering through the hangar, I would talk with AME’s & was shown how to use those specialized pliers. I still have a roll of the SS wire.
I don’t believe that is necessary, or even effective on a beach cat. The copper wire was done in a bit of a mess, but a single loop twisted is quite sufficient, the Nacra manual says you can use a bit of string on the Diamond wire turnbuckles.
Aircraft exhibit much greater torques & vibration. If I were helming a Vendee Globe boat I might.
There is a major difference between what that AME was doing with the propeller bolts & our rigging. One word- TORQUE.
Those bolts might experience a torque, which might undo them, leading to catastrophic failure. Our shrouds, & most of the rigging is secured by pins, which are under shear load- there is no torque trying to undo them. The safety required is a physical means of preventing the pin from sliding out.
Usually this is prevented by the double shear load on the pin, however, if the rigging goes slack, the pin could move. A bent cotter pin or ring ding prevents the pin from sliding out.
My Diamond wires are cotter pinned, everything else is ring dinged, with the ring folded over, then taped to prevent being snagged.
As for shackles that employ a threaded pin, you will notice a small, but significant difference between these pins & a bolt.
When you do them up, you will feel the thread get snug, then turning a bit more, (with pliers), it feels like they go “over Center”. This is the locking mechanism.
For what it’s worth, I asked the guy who built my new rigging about safety locking them.
He won a gold medal,
Sailing a Tornado,
At the Olympics.
He said...”not required, they won’t come undone.”
I generally tape, in a figure 8, around the flat head of the pin, but I would never go to the trouble of using lock wire pliers. Lock wire has a nasty habit of forming meat hooks. I would also never bother with blue loctite , unless maybe I was a Round the world ocean racer.
As Dog boy said, a zip tie is sufficient.
The only place I use lock wire is through the turn buckle on the Diamond wires, & to secure the steering U-joints on the Nacra tiller tie. The steering U joints was done on advice from a member here. I did it as a temporary solution...but it’s been 7 years now. It’s on my To-Do list, honest.
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Hobie 18 Magnum
Dart 15
Mystere 6.0XL Sold Was a handful solo
Nacra 5.7
Nacra 5.0
Bombardier Invitation (Now officially DEAD)
Various other Dock cluttering WaterCrap
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