Recent content by Butch Bogan

When was the last time you serviced your winches? Now is a good time to open these guys up and take a look inside. The attached photo is one of four winches I removed from a customers Ericson 36C that he just purchased. He thought they were supposed to freely turn in both directions. Can...

That's a really nice setup. Good on 'ya for using locking carabiners. If you all keep this up I'll be out of a job soon.

Just my $.02 worth; get your rigging inspected after the boat is back in the water. Gene mentioned it earlier and it is a good idea. I've inspected quite a few rigs after hard groundings and found issues aloft on several of them.

Strongly agree with Christian above, the Bimini should have a zipper/velcro flap to go around the stay. Unless you have a trailering boat there should be no quick remove fittings in the standing rigging.

My biggest issue with plane aerodynamics vs boat aerodynamics is gravity ;)

This has become quite the thread. It's great to see so much input from the group. Just for fun I thought I'd share one of the things we riggers occasionally find once we safely get to the top of the mast. Look closely, this might just put the fear of gravity in you.

Have you ever considered Spartite? www.spartite.com

Hi Tom, That's a good question. I touch on it a little bit in the long reply to double tap above. I don't alway have the luxury of working on boats with multiple masthead halyards, so sometimes my safety line is only the tether that I place around the mast once I'm above the spreaders. If...

Good Morning Mr. Tap, I don't want to sound evasive, but it kind of depends on how you're approaching the issue. If it's just going up for the occasional inspection then a good bosun's chair is fine and a bit less expensive than a good harness. However, if you're looking for a bullet proof...

I'm a rigger, not a sailmaker, but a 150 on a furler is trouble waiting to happen. The issue of getting more line on the drum is easily solved by many of the solutions previously brought up. My personal preferred method is to strip the core from a high-modulus covered line, such as Marlow MGP...

I was just discussing this with another member here. Not to speak ill of anyone's products, but I am a rigger by profession, I will not go aloft in a Bosun's chair or any kind of "mast ladder", and I know of no other professional rigger who does. I know of too many people who have fallen, or...

Looks interesting but I think I'll keep my New Tribe Onyx and 2:1 purchase system. www.newtribe.com

Galling on stainless happens mostly through friction. If there is a high amount of tension on the fasteners when they are being disassembled the heat generated will cause the metal to fuse. Any corrosion will add to the friction, as will trying to assemble or disassemble at a high rate of speed...

Nice job, almost nothing worse than galled stainless fasteners. I'd recommend you paint the holes through the bulkhead wit a couple coats of epoxy and apply some Tea-Gel to the fasteners when you re-install. The mis-shaped hole at the top right you might want to epoxy in a plug and re-drill if...

If you'd like I can discuss this over the phone with you. You can send me a private email with your phone number to bbmarinepdx@gmail.com I'm in my office today catching up on paperwork and chasing parts so it's not inconvenient.