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thebootlegger · 13-01-2015, 05:55

This may be a dumb question but I have asked around and looked online and haven't gotten an answer ...what is the function of the rod that is inside the canin just aft of a keel stepped mast ..I thought it had something to do with tuning but wasn't sure. Thanks.

steamgoat · 13-01-2015, 06:00

Too stop the distance between the step and the cabin top increasing as the rigging gets tight and tries to squeeze the hull sides together , pushing the cabin top up.

**GordMay** · 13-01-2015, 06:43

A deck tie down keeps the deck from being pulled up on keel stepped masts, where the mast does not sit on the deck. When the halyards are led aft via turning blocks attached to either the mast collar or the deck surrounding it, the deck will try and pull up as the line becomes loaded. The deck can also be pushed up by the compression of the hull, typically, caused by rigging tension.

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Terra Nova · 13-01-2015, 08:35

It is called a panting rod.

thebootlegger · 13-01-2015, 16:54

Thanks so much you all for explaining it to me. Makes sense now.

**George DuBose** · 14-01-2015, 07:58

A panting rod. What a great name.

The sixty four thousand dollar question is, "How do you use it, correctly?"

I have been told that the panting rod needs to be set up or tensioned when the standing rigging is slack. The panting rod if it has a nut on the end protruding from the mast collar should be just tightened a little. Then when the standing rigging is adjusted, the panting rod keeps the deck from rising when the stays try to pull the sides together. I think a PO overdid the tightening of the panting rod as my mast collar has a crack in it.

I don't think it matters whether you have halyard turning blocks fixed to the mast collar or the deck, the cap shrouds and the lowers exert enough force to cause the deck to rise a bit.

If anyone has any more information about adjusting panting rods, please share it. This is the first time I even heard the correct name of that rod.

Suijin · 14-01-2015, 08:07

It's called a panting rod because the cyclic distortion of the hull caused by pitching with a tensioned rig is referred to as panting. The boat would literally appear to "pant" or breathe in a seaway. In older ships "panting beams" were fitted to stabilize the hull against those forces.

It's also referred by some as a "compression post."

It should be adjusted to "snug" when the stays are slack as that is the state/shape that you want to maintain when you tension the rig.

bsurvey · 14-01-2015, 08:09

its so you don't drive the mast and step down through the bottom of the boat. any keel to stubby keeel seoperation?

**George DuBose** · 14-01-2015, 08:14

I thought a compression post went under a deck stepped mast to keep the base of the mast from coming into the cabin?

Terra Nova · 14-01-2015, 08:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suijin

...It's also referred by some as a "compression post."...

No, it isn't.

Suijin · 14-01-2015, 08:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by George DuBose

I thought a compression post went under a deck stepped mast to keep the base of the mast from coming into the cabin?

Technically is it, but seems that the generalized term "compression post" has subsumed "panting rod" in the industry for whatever reason. Likely because everyone kept asking "wtf is it called a panting rod?" lol

Suijin · 14-01-2015, 08:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terra Nova

No, it isn't.

It is. I did not say it serves the same purposes as a compression post which is particular to a deck-stepped mast, but I know a lot of people in the sailboat industry who refer to it as that. So it's worth knowing that people call it that, erroneously or not.

lordgeoff · 14-01-2015, 09:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by George DuBose

I thought a compression post went under a deck stepped mast to keep the base of the mast from coming into the cabin?

Yup. Correct.
The SS rod referred to eliminates "pumping" (or the term above Panting) of the keel stepped mast when sailing. It certainly isn't a compression post.
Under where the mast sits on the deck is a pretty, round, SS post about 6 - 12 inches in diameter. This is the compression post.