Vang Washers
I took apart my vang this
weekend after noticing that I was missing the same washers that Annie suspects
caused the broken vang on Topcat. I was disappointed
to find considerable wear on the bottom "ear" of the aluminum
fitting. There is a round groove around
the pin where the vang swivel has been wearing
against the aluminum, and a notch cut by the vertical flat part of the
swivel. Fortunately, the swivel itself
does not appear to have any damage yet.
The top ear looked
fine. I guess that the wear on the
bottom is due to the fact that most of the time the boat sits idle with the vang spring in
compression. Because of my Dutchman
system, I don't seem to be able to lift my boom high enough with the topping
lift to relieve this pressure on the fitting.
A trip to West Marine did
not turn up any suitably sized washers.
It appears that I need washers with an i.d. of
1/2 inch (or 12 mm?) , but the only ones I could find
of that i.d. had o.d.'s
that were way too large.
Does anyone know of a source
for these washers?
If you haven't checked to
see that yours are in the right place, I'd strongly recommend doing so.
Scott Thompson
Surprise, #653
Scott - I also took my boom
vang apart for the same reason 2 days ago and found that there is no way 2 washers
will ever fit between the ears. All that
work and all I accomplished was to change the two bolts out for clevis pins and
turn the clevis pin on the "ears" around and secure it with a shackle
on the top, versus a split ring on the bottom.
The reason I went with a shackle is that eventually, I will re-run the
reef line the way that Jeff Hare recommended several weeks ago. At any rate, I intend to call Charleston
Spars next week and talk with the same guy I talked with several weeks ago who
told me that 2 washers need to go between the ears. Perhaps he meant paper washers?!
Sea Shadow - #808
Allan - Topcat's new mast
bracket now has washers top and bottom.
The shipwright said that if he had any trouble getting washers thin
enough to fit he would machine them down until they do. I'll ask him if he had to do this. The new mast bracket to replace the one with
worn ears top and bottom was sent over by Seco South
- many thanks to Jeff Hare who told me where to go for one - I wouldn't have
had a clue where to go without his advice.
Jeff actually told me to contact Charleston Spars which I did. They forwarded my request to Seco South. They
quoted me USD38 for the mast casting. I
was surprised when the bill arrived to find that the shipping cost USD49.75 -
i.e. more than the part - especially as the casting is really light. I'm not complaining about Seco
South - their service was excellent - just surprised about the cost of
shipping. (Garhauer supplied their part
for free and didn't charge for the shipping.)
If people are interested, I can forward the photo of the repair with
washers top and bottom for Jeff to put on the C32 website. I definitely think this is something for
owners to check, along with things like checking the nut under the gooseneck is
screwed on tight with a split pin to stop it falling off and checking that the
chains for the caps for the fuel and water tanks are screwed in tightly.
Annie Bennett
Topcat #812