ericson masthead toggles

[davisr]

I've searched around and haven't had any luck finding other discussions on this subject. The toggles on m E25 are 3 1/2 inches long and 1/8 inch thick. For some reason or another they have 5/16 inch pins. The tangs for the shrouds, on the other hand, have 3/8 inch pins.

At any rate, like many things on this boat (the over-sized spreaders being one example), the folks at Ericson went the heavy duty route. This is okay by me, but now that I'm replacing my rigging, I'm wondering if anyone has toggles similar in appearance and size, and if anyone has replaced them at the time they went through the re-rigging process. I'd prefer to hang on to these bad boys, especially since they appear to be in good condition and all the other toggles I've seen on the market are about half the size. Then again, they are about 37 years old. Then again, I haven't found any discussions out there about masthead toggle failure.

Thanks,
Roscoe

 

[AleksT]

Look at the cross section area of the wire. Then look at the cross section area of the toggle. On any boat. the toggle will always be stronger than the wire it terminates. If the toggle has only surface corrosion and no cracks (you may want to inspect them with a jewelers loupe to check) you can be confident with reusing them. If the metal is deteriorated in any way it would probably be a good idea to replace them with new.

Since you are not worried about things being heavy duty keep all the sizes of parts as is just replace with new as needed.

 

[mherrcat]

I would think a good sheet metal shop could fabricate something like that easily if currently available parts are not sufficient.

 

[bigd14]

Hey Roscoe- I had Brion Toss (Master Rigger from Washington) look over my rig. He recommended that I simply use a standard rigging toggle that you would normally use where the rigging attaches to the chainplates for the masthead attachment instead of an eye and the long toggle. This assumes of course that you are replacing the standing rigging. I had my masthead overbored to 3/8 to fit the proper toggle. I understand the same rig was used for the 23, 25 and 27, so yes, its oversized for your boat!

Sounds like you are making good progress!

 

[davisr]

Thanks fellas for all the advice.

Doug,

I wasn't aware that the E23, E25, and E27 all have the same rigging and hardware. I thought that there were just some repetitions here and there. I checked the specs on the E27 documents section and saw that the E27 was originally rigged with 5/32 wire. Given what you said about drilling out the masthead to allow for a 3/8 inch pin, it sounds like you stepped up to 3/16 wire. Is that right? I'm doing the same thing. I know of another E25 owner who has stepped up. Not worried about the increased weight since I got rid of the wire-rope halyards earlier this fall. Yesterday the rigger and I considered swapping out the old toggle for a new one, but he thought that the new one would have a little too much play within the masthead, since it would be a good bit smaller in size. Decided to stick with the original toggle as it is overkill to begin with and it's in good condition. He got around the pin size issue by using an aircraft eye that will accept a 5/16 inch pin. Sherman and Johnson have 3/16 eyes with either 3/8 or 5/16 pins. Same weight specs on each.

Best Regards,
Roscoe

P.S. Thanks, yes, the project is moving along quite nicely now, thank goodness. Admiral is pleased.

 

[bigd14]

Well, from what I understand from reading posts on this forum, the mast profile is the same on many 23's 25's and 27's, but looking at your mast profile, it looks different than mine, although your masthead looks the same. I had 3/16 on all rigging prior to replacing it. Brion Toss measured the boat, ran some calculations, and then decided that I should bump up to 7/32 for the forestay and uppers and stick with 3/16 for lowers and backstay. So that is what I did!

I imagine you would be fine with the 3/16 on the 25!