shroud adjuster break

My surprise while breaking down the boat for the season.

_________________
Rick Wattengel
H18 "Puka-Luka"
Fleet 119-Lake Erie's Finest

Wow, that's a little scary! These shroud adjusters always make me nervous when they get significantly bent. I have the 10 hole variant, which bends very easily when you're stepping the mast on a trailer and your shroud gets caught under a hull/rudder, or if the twist toggle doesn't rotate as the mast is coming up. Sometimes they get "jammed" and the shroud adjuster folds over as the mast comes up. I'll bend it back and still sail with it, but if it happens more than once or twice, I replace the adjuster. However, I'm a little surprised at the way yours separated! That's not really how I would expect it to break, and with how clean of a separation it was, I almost wonder if it was a defect... looks like either the weld didn't fully penetrate the parent material, or they didn't adequately control temperature and it separated right along the heat-affected zone. Tough to tell without looking much closer. It also looks like it's a pretty old part?

In any case, if any of mine last long enough without getting bent, I may add these to the list of parts to replace every handful of years

_________________
Mike

'79 H18 standard 'Rocketman II' sail #14921 RIP
'78 H18 (unnamed) sail #14921
'08 H16 sail #114312
'97 H21SC sail #238

How old is the boat? My guess is it resulted from cyclical stress after many years of use. Looks like the adjuster broke right along the bend line, which would make sense. If those bends had a little radius to them, it would probably be a non-issue. Never seen one of these fail like that, but they’re inexpensive enough to warrant changing out every couple years I guess.

sm

This is a 1990 boat that was lightly used until I bought it 6 years ago. Since then it's been sailed 30-40 days per year on Lake Erie. I replaced the shrouds and hull anchor pins but never considered the shroud adjuster or twist toggle below it. The scary thing is that the broken part was not dangling and looked intact until we pulled the clevis pin on the adjuster.

_________________
Rick Wattengel
H18 "Puka-Luka"
Fleet 119-Lake Erie's Finest

maybe it's a tribute to just how strong those are, i mean, it was working with only half of it.

But for how long? If there was enough load on it at some point to break one of the pieces, then at some point there'd likely be enough load to break the remaining piece and bring the mast down.

I had seen on here recommendations to change the shroud anchor pins and twist toggles at some point, as someone had an anecdotal incident where the shroud pin and/or twist toggle had failed suddenly and brought the mast down. I believe the issue with the twist toggle is when they start to fatigue from the cyclical loading and unloading on the twist.

_________________
Mike

'79 H18 standard 'Rocketman II' sail #14921 RIP
'78 H18 (unnamed) sail #14921
'08 H16 sail #114312
'97 H21SC sail #238

It’s age, at the fold.
I’ve had twist toggles fail. They crack through the middle of the upper hole where it’s hard to see. I just took my twist toggles off completely. You don’t need them. They are a waste of money and add to the list of things that can go wrong or fail. No other Catamaran in the world uses twist toggles. Delete them.

I even removed the chain plate from one side of my boat. I just made a sidestay the correct length and pin it directly to the shroud anchor. It’s cheaper that way, and less things to fail, lose or replace. No shroud adjuster cover on one side to worry about either. Just set and forget. KISS at its best.

My recommendation is don’t buy another adjuster. Spend the money to make a new sidestay the correct length so you can eliminate everything.

Photos are on my boats Facebook page in the link below.

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John Forbes
Hobie 18 Reimagined
Sail # 490
Boat name: 18@heart
http://www.hobie18.fun
https://www.facebook.com/Hobie18catamaran/

hey there John!
my rig is so old, that i don't really worry about raking the mast, unless it is really blowing. i don't go out in really light air.
with your rig then, you don't rake at all? it is a fixed setting? Or am i missing something.

Hi raisehull. I don’t adjust my mast rake - ever. Set and forget. It is always raked a long way back, even in light wind. We are 161kgs (355 lbs) in the nude. Our forestay is one length with no adjustment and same with the port sidestay. The starboard sidestay has a 7 hole adjuster purely for letting the rig on and off when raising and lowering the mast. My boats Facebook page has a specific photo album about how we measure our rake and where the setting is (about 2” down the transom). It’s quick in all conditions, easy to sail, and heaps less things to break, lose or need to replace. KISS principle is still fast.

_________________
John Forbes
Hobie 18 Reimagined
Sail # 490
Boat name: 18@heart
http://www.hobie18.fun
https://www.facebook.com/Hobie18catamaran/

If that’s the case, why not just make both side stays the “right” length and pin both directly to the anchor bolts? Then when you want to relax the rig to drop the mast, detach one of the shrouds and install the adjuster. The adjuster would only be temporarily installed when raising and lowering the mast.

sm

Hi SM, we did that on the Tornado. Same correct length on both side stays straight to the tang. Same on the forestay. It was awesome!!! For the H18 we decided we would just make life simple and just have one smaller adjuster on one side purely for convenience. It’s a short adjuster with a short Nacra or Murray’s style cover. It’s good enough for club racing. But you are right and yes, we have done that already on the big T. It freaks people out but the results speak for themselves.

_________________
John Forbes
Hobie 18 Reimagined
Sail # 490
Boat name: 18@heart
http://www.hobie18.fun
https://www.facebook.com/Hobie18catamaran/

I found the same thing when breaking down my H20 at The Pinata regatta this year. We'd done 2 days of mellow sailing and 2 days of crazy sailing... try and check all your stuff every time!