Rigging turnbuckle lubrication

[Greg4cocokai]

If you're near Boat Lagoon, I'm pretty sure East Marine carries Lanacote or ask David the rigger at Precision Boat works next door.

[Cheechako]

Lanolin is technically not a lubricant I guess, but grease washes out so leaves no lubricant at all. Lanolin is a compromise as it does have some lubrication ability as opposed to dry. Can you order Lanocote in Thailand?

[Jim Cate]

Hmmm...

All this worry about various greases "washing out"...

We're talking about lubing a rigging screw here. Two factors are involved: lubrication during the adjustment phase, where the screw must operate under high load and galling is a worry, and then the static phase, where corrosion of the engaged threads is the worry.

In the first instance, wash out can't occur since one normally does not tune the rig under water. In the second instance, the lubricant actually in the engaged threads is unlikely to wash out because it is isolated and protected by being inside the body of the rigging screw.

When turning heavily loaded screws, some form of high pressure lubricant is desirable, and Lanolin does not meet that description IMO. It does do a good job of corrosion prevention, however, as others have said.

It is good practice to put some lubricant on the exposed threads when attempting to unscrew things, as in removing a stay or shroud, and the old lube should still be viable inside the body, even after a protracted period of service.

The advice to use a lubricant containing Moly disulphide is good, and once the adjustment is done, the black goo can be wiped off the exposed portions, hopefully before it gets on your sails!

I've never seen Tungsten based lubricants, so can't comment on that suggestion.

Cheers,

Jim

[kentobin]

Tef-Gel

I took a riigging class with Brion Toss several years ago and he recommended tef-gel.

I just tried searching for some write-ups about it but couldn't find anything I really liked. Best I could do is some information I found in an ad:

Tef-Gel® is a synthetic based PTFE waterproof lubricant with anti-corrosion and anti-seize properties. Tef-Gel® does not break down in salt water or detergents. Tef-Gel® is a US Navy specified non-lanolin synthetic formulation. Lanolin, (an extract of wool) used as the base for the popular anti-seize product can absorb small amounts of moisture which will allow for corrosions and seize your stainless steel to aluminum joint after a few years. The paint will blister in the surrounding area.

[Emmalina]

Originally Posted by thaisail

Any idea where I can find Lanolin in Thailand?

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

Koh Lanta ... Lanta Marine Services is the distributor for Thailand of Lanoguard grease and liquid...
http://lantamarineservices.com/prici...nolin-products

[neilpride]

Tef Gel is a really expensive stuff, a small syringe cost about 28$ here , is very good to isolate disimilar metals and to avoid corrosion but as a lubricant no, is very thick and gummy, we use it to join the alu sections in roller furlers or to any ss fitting installed in the mast , also in ss rivets or in any place where corrosion can show up due disimilar metals . Tef gel dont change in hig temp and in cold stay the same thick and gummy, Lanocote is like a paste , when you coat the screws and tight the turnbuckles the ambient temp change the paste to a liquid state , thats why is really cool inside of the thread, and allow for a easy turning in the screw, others greases and antiseize compounds dry hard and get britle inside of the thread, we see that many times when we dismantle a turnbuckle , a soft powder stuff around the thread, or in case of greases , a gummy stuff doing nothing,....just saying....

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Hmmm...

All this worry about various greases "washing out"...

We're talking about lubing a rigging screw here. Two factors are involved: lubrication during the adjustment phase, where the screw must operate under high load and galling is a worry, and then the static phase, where corrosion of the engaged threads is the worry.

In the first instance, wash out can't occur since one normally does not tune the rig under water. In the second instance, the lubricant actually in the engaged threads is unlikely to wash out because it is isolated and protected by being inside the body of the rigging screw.

When turning heavily loaded screws, some form of high pressure lubricant is desirable, and Lanolin does not meet that description IMO. It does do a good job of corrosion prevention, however, as others have said.

It is good practice to put some lubricant on the exposed threads when attempting to unscrew things, as in removing a stay or shroud, and the old lube should still be viable inside the body, even after a protracted period of service.

The advice to use a lubricant containing Moly disulphide is good, and once the adjustment is done, the black goo can be wiped off the exposed portions, hopefully before it gets on your sails!

I've never seen Tungsten based lubricants, so can't comment on that suggestion.

Cheers,

Jim

I do agree that to much is being made out of lubing turnbuckles at all. A good buckle made of bronze on stainless should be very self lubricating. Also a good point that the important time of needing lube is when adjusting the rig when you first install it.
I disagree that any of the rigging screws are anywhere near a high pressure application. A, let's say, 1/2 thread tensioning a 5/16 wire will never reach a high pressure event... as the wire is stretchy. Simply tightening a 1/2" nut on a bolt solidly is far more extreme.
My Passport had (suppposedly) hi quality Nav-tec turnbuckles... neither half was bronze ... they were all 316 stainless... a real galling situation... even undoing them under no load. They were greased with boat trailer bearing grease and disassembling them the next year there was no grease at all still in them. I have no idea why other than simple rain and salt water must have washed it out. I replaced them with old fashioned bronze turnbuckles.

[goboatingnow]

I've never seen Tungsten based lubricants, so can't comment on that suggestion.

great stuff not cheap, better if someone else is paying!.

Tungsten Disulfide Extreme Temperature Grease | Extreme Pressure | Superior Industries, Inc.

dave

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

I do agree that to much is being made out of lubing turnbuckles at all. A good buckle made of bronze on stainless should be very self lubricating. Also a good point that the important time of needing lube is when adjusting the rig when you first install it.
I disagree that any of the rigging screws are anywhere near a high pressure application. A, let's say, 1/2 thread tensioning a 5/16 wire will never reach a high pressure event... as the wire is stretchy. Simply tightening a 1/2" nut on a bolt solidly is far more extreme.
My Passport had (suppposedly) hi quality Nav-tec turnbuckles... neither half was bronze ... they were all 316 stainless... a real galling situation... even undoing them under no load. They were greased with boat trailer bearing grease and disassembling them the next year there was no grease at all still in them. I have no idea why other than simple rain and salt water must have washed it out. I replaced them with old fashioned bronze turnbuckles.

Cheech, when you think about it a bit, torquing a nut up on a solid bolted connection is a very different situation than tuning a rig. In the first, there is heavy load only for the last tiny bit of rotation of the nut. In the rigging screw, you often must make numerous revolutions under fairly heavy load as you bring the wire up to tension.

And I fail to see how s/s on bronze is self lubricating. Not galling, as in s/s on s/s, but still in need of additional lubrication. Oh, I agree about the Navtec screws... I stopped buying them years ago! I fairly recently pulled our mast for some servicing. The rigging screws had been sitting under load for 8 years, and still had the marine grease in them that I had used when I re-rigged her. No problems unscrewing them, but I did re-lubricate the exposed portions of the threads.

Cheers,

Jim

[thaisail]

The mast is up! Now wood pegs are going in to center the mast in the hole in the deck. The mast is stepped on the keel. All turnbuckles are loose. Which wire do I tighten first the stays or the shrouds? I have sloop rig with two sets of spreaders. One forstay one back stay that is split into two back stays about 2 meters above the stern. This is the first time I have stepped the mast so if anyone can help with advise please post quickly. How tight should the rigging be?

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app