fireant said: "...on the starboard standing rigging at the top one strand is broken. I can see it sticking out about a foot to a foot and a half....not sure if I can take it out or what the next step should be."
Don't get tied in knots over this. It's a common enuff problem on 50YO
boats. It's easy to fix as Mark (Manatee) has told you without being too specific.
I believe that holding up you
mast there are three wires on each side of the boat. Rising from the side of the
deck of the boat, two wires go up and join the mast just under the spreader bars. I call those wires the "shrouds". Between those two, a third wire rises up to the top of the mast and halfway up this wire is held out from the mast by the spreader bar. I call this wire the "topmast shroud".
Your description indicates that one "strand" out of the 19 of which that wire is made up has broken. This means that the whole topmast
shroud needs to be replaced. It's easy to do. As the bottom of the TMS a fitting with a forked end is held on to the "chainplate" (which is fixed to the
hull of the boat) with a "clevis pin". This pin slips through the holes in the end fitting on the TMS and the chainplate.. At the top of the mast there is a fitting called a "tang" that is just like a chainplate. Again, the end fitting on the TMS will be attached to the tang by means of a clevis pin.
You take the whole TMS off the boat and make up a new one using the things Manatee has told you about, making sure that the length of the new one is just the same as that of the old one. You can do it all yourself. Total cost shouldn't be more than a few hundred bux. This sort of thing is just part of ordinary
maintenance and unless you're made of
money, you need to learn to do these things yourself.
There is NO need for the mast to come down to change a TMS on an O'Day27!
Pay attention to what Manatee tells you. I might have a bit to add as well :-).
All the best
TrentePieds