Rigging screws for shrouds

[Peter Ivermee]

I know that as the foresail is unfurled the string shrouds tighten and they loosen as the sail is furled away but the shrouds do seem a little looser after a year.  Am thinking of replacing them with stainless steel rigging screws which are more easily adjustable.  Wondered if anyone else had done this.

[Julian Swindell]

Hi Peter
I basically don't like rigging screws on small boats. I have got one on my forstay, which is just hand tight, and lanyards on the shrouds. The risk with rigging screws is that you can too easily over-tension the rig and cause potential damage. The usual scenario is that you are sailing on one tack and notice the leeward shroud is loose, so you tighten up the screw. Then after the next tack the new leeward shroud is loose, so you tighten that. Do this often enough and there could be an all mighty bang as your mast is catapulted down through you keel. These aren't high performance, high tension boats. Lanyards work fine, they are easy to check and tighten and don't unscrew when you take your eye off them (which happens on my forestay. I may well replace it with a lanyard at some stage.) Lanyards are also much easier to use when rigging your boat. You can always get a lanyard in place, even loosely. With screws, once you have got one side set up, you will go round the other and find you haven't got enough adjustment to hook on, so you have to go round and loosen then far side etc etc. You can always get a lanyard on to secure the mast and then spend your time getting them all balanced. They are also cheap and easy to replace.

[Jeremy]

The biggest advantage of lanyards over rigging screws in my view is that lanyards reduce the risk of damage when raising the mast.  I originally had rigging screws on the shrouds and forestays of my last boat, but after bending the shroud screws several times when raising the mast (due to them cocking over in the shroud plate and jamming) I swapped them for lanyards.  Not only did this fix the problem, but it also removed the worry of the screws coming undone.

I lost two bobstay rigging screws whilst the boat was out on its mooring, both times I had wired them tight, yet they managed to undo themselves just from wave motion and drop in the oggin.  Serves me right for using wire and a rigging screw on a bobstay - I should have stuck to chain and a lanyard.  In my view rigging screws are untrustworthy things.............

[Peter Cockerton]

Peter

I have just changed my shroud lanyards for riggging screws and i will let you know if i get any of the problems mentioned in previous postings.
I found screws which gave me the length, adjustment, load rated, and with the mechanical fixings i wanted to do the job (let me know if you want the supplier). Once fitted and adjusted you insert split pins into the bottom of the screws which stops any changes in adjustment from natural boat movement or "on the fly" playing. They also come with a nice mesh sleeve to cover the main body and screws to prevent chaffing. Hopefully the issues already raised will not materialise on my boat and i hope to improve on the following.

When sailiing on a run the forestay tension was decreasing due to the mast leaning forward which resulted in the jib boom riding very high on the clew end. I know the obvious conclusion here is tighten the shrouds with the lanyards a little but i have to balance this with the mast not quite raising fully due to the bottom of the mast i think being pushed to hard into the step. This i found resolved itself when i slackened the shroud forestays slightly. This also has to be balanced with length of the jib rigging so the bowline on the jib lanyard does not run up against the mast block. I know it will tension when you lift the jib boom and more adjustment is available if i allow the jib boom to come of the foredeck when tensioning the jib halyard. So rightly or wrongly the swrews give me the finer adustment to get my boat sorted and i feel more comfortable again rightly or wrongly with steel in place of rope in an area which is under constant varying tension.

I await the prosecution comments on this.

[Julian Swindell]

I have to add that I have changed my original forestay rigging screw for a lanyard, as I planned. I am far happier with the result. It does not loosen, I can see the state of it at a glance. It doesn't get caught at a funny angle under anything and I can fix it in place so easily. Each to his/her own, but I still don't like rigging screws on small boats, and especially on ones where the mast may be raised and lowered frequently. I will be interested in how you get on.

[Craic]

Very much agree with Jeremy and Julian, on this one.
We changed back from rigging screws to lanyards. Simpler, less damaging when operating the mast and when trailering. But the key point for us is that with lanyards one can grab them when pulling the boat up or down a beach. You cannot do that with rigging screws, they bend.

P.S.
And who wants to go out with rigging screws that have been bent, and have been straightened back, a few times?

[Ron Dierolf]

When I ordered my Bay Raider I asked for Matt to provide turnbuckles (rigging screws - same thing?).  I sailed with them for two months and scrapped them in favor of the lanyards.  I had the problem of the constant tightening mentioned earlier in this thread.  In my opinion, on this boat, they are not as secure as the lanyards.  The lanyard system provides a bit of give so the reaction of the shrouds to the furling/unfurling the jib is not as pronounced.  I would not recommend the screws - the original design is the correct one.

I am going to make one change- I'm going to replace the lanyard system with some deadeyes.  Same system as the lanyards but hopefully a bit "saltier". 

Ron
USA