I don't know - I've never seen any evidence that a turnbuckle has loosened, at
least not a larger boat with open turnbuckles and some tension on the stays. On
smaller boats, I have seen them rattle open, and I've even the wire unlay a bit,
but that was on a club boat that raised and lowered the mast frequently, and was
generally mis-treated.


"Scott Vernon" wrote in message
...
How does one tell if a stay is twisted while the turnbuckle is still
attached?

SV

"Jeff Morris" wrote in message
...
I'll go out on a limb ... Why do they need securing?

I'm really not advocating this, but ...

When I bought my current boat I went to the factory for a week of
acceptance
tests, commissioning, etc. The boat was all rigged for us, but there were
no
cotter pins installed. They explained that as soon as we left, the mast
would
be pulled for the delivery down the Erie Canal, and there was no need to
install
the cotter pins for just a few day sails. I was skeptical, and checked
every
turnbuckle morning, noon, and night but of course, there was no movement
at all.

I've also wondered if both ends of the turnbuckle need a pin - for it to
turn,
the stay must twist. I hard to see how it could loosen more than a
quarter
turn.

As I say, I'm not advocating never using pins, and all of my stay have
split
pins, but I'm not sure losing one pin is an immediate crisis.

On the other hand, as an ex-dinghy sailor whose boats were rigged with
clevis
and ring pins, I can say its rather unnerving to find a ring-ding in the
bilge!



"N1EE" wrote in message
om...
What's the best cotter pin type to secure
a turnbuckle?

Bart Senior