Crooked T-Bolts

[Laskadog]

Hi all,

I have some bent or crooked T-Bolts for my turnbuckles. The boat is new to me, so I'm wondering:

a) Is this dangerous?
b) How did this happen?
c) How do I remedy this situation?

The boat has 3 shrouds per side and it seems to be the 2 aft bolts that are bent on the starboard side. On the port side, it's the swaged end of the shrouds that seem to have bent. The toggles allow for side movement, but not fore & aft movement. I'm assuming this is the problem.

Any insight would be appreciated. The boat is on the hard for now, but wondering if I should step the mast with these bent standing rigging parts.

Thanks,

[paulajayne]

The are being stressed side ways and you should look at perhaps adding a shackle at the base to prevent this.


I would change the Turnbuckles as well.

[Laskadog]

Thanks. I took the shrouds to a rigger today and he thinks it happened while raising the mast manually (without a crane). I'll be replacing all the bent parts including an all new lower shroud.

[travellerw]

LOL.. You wouldn't happen to own an Edel 540 would you? That is a super common "opps" on those boats. People bringing the mast down don't fully undo those shrouds and bending occures..

No matter what.. I would replace those T-bolts. I replaced them on my Edel and it cost like $10 for 2 bolts.

[Laskadog]

Nope! Aloha 28, but a common oops it seems I'm pretty sure it was sailed years like that, but I'm not taking any chances.

[travellerw]

Originally Posted by Laskadog

Nope! Aloha 28, but a common oops it seems I'm pretty sure it was sailed years like that, but I'm not taking any chances.

Yup.. Our Edel was sailed like that for 5 years with bent T-Bolts..

Just like you, I wasn't taking chances either. After replacing I just shook my head that the PO didn't spend the $10.. However after some thinking, I think he probably replaced them, but bent them numerous times. Eventually, he quite replacing them.

It taught me to make a checklist for raising and lowering the mast.