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Tuesday, May 15, 2012

11:30 a.m. EASTERN

 

Inspecting Rigging

Last modified on 2012-05-17 18:09:36 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Air Date May 15, 2012

Marine surveyor and rigger John Koon joins us to talk about some of the issues he will be covering in his IBEX 2012 seminar on Inspecting Rigging. This will be somewhat different from his 2010 session, presented with Marc Cruder. In that seminar, much of the emphasis was on the safety of the multihull fleet, in the wake of two fatalities. (Koon had been tasked with inspecting the boats.) Attendees made it clear that they wanted more information on load distribution, dynamics, and inspection technology, as well as rigging awareness and geometry. 

This year’s session will include much more information on rigging mechanics and failure modalities.

Koon has been messing around with boats since he was a teenager. Now living in Hawaii, John Koon travels about 100 days out of the year inspecting rigging, running training programs, and surveying vessels from modern multihulls to historic square rig tall ships.

Koon has probably spent as much time aloft as other surveyors have spent on deck. During his career, he has been a shipwright, designer, builder, repairman, surveyor, consultant, and educator.

How did Koon end up as a rigger? He says it was by default. “I apprenticed as a shipwright, but I was enthralled by rigging. I just see the vibrations in the system. Being on classic- or square-rigged schooners, I was a natural aloft. The rigs were all wood, and I was soon splicing giant spars and keeping systems working.”

As for being scared to be aloft, Koon says that’s a sign of intelligence. Recently speaking at the Tall Ships Conference in Newport, R.I., Koon asked how many people in the audience were comfortable aloft. “If you are, then grab on and scream for help.”

Kidding aside, Koon says to do a meaningful inspection aloft, the rigger needs to be comfortable and needs to be able to be agile. He working with equipment designed for arborists and mountain climbers, people who spend long periods of time aloft, and can transit laterally. “You need to be able to reach the yardarms, and even hang upside down.”

For IBEX, he will bring along some of the equipment he uses, and he’ll talk about ways to improve his security.

Referring to rigger Brion Toss, PBRadio host Barbara Jean Walsh asks Koon about Brion’s comments about “professional riggers.” Koon laughs and says, “Yes, I know what he means.” There are no certifications for riggers, although some few people are categorized as Master Riggers. The concept of professional rigger is hard to comprehends for people like Toss and Koon who end up having to undo work done by the so-called professionals.

Koon and Toss have developed a 40-hr training course for riggers. “It’s a really dynamic program,” he says. “And there’s a hue and cry to make that available for surveyors, but we have concerns that they might have false impressions about what their skill level is. It could be dangerous for us to give anyone a false sense of confidence. It’s better for a marine surveyor to collaborate with a professional rigger who builds and tears down rigs at least 40-hrs a week.”

Rigging awareness is something that can refine the eye of anyone who wants to do more inspections. But to commit to this trade means committing to a life of “liability, danger, and low pay.” It’s dangerous, the liability if over the top, and it’s hard to make a living at it.

At what point should a surveyor call in a rigger? What does a surveyor need to do before he or she makes that call? Koon says, “At IBEX, I hope to explain the concepts of geometry, design, and stability. Is it a beamy boat or a catamaran? Look at the boat from 200 yards away. You should be able to look at any boat and already know four or five hot spots where accelerated fatigue is likely to be found and why that is so.”

Koon will be bringing along visual aids, including working models of contemporary rigging systems to support his PowerPoint presentation, showing why rigs are built the way they are.

“We can cover rigging in a philosophical sense, i.e. why certain metals are at war with each other, and so on,” he says.

Koon works on a range of vessels, that covers just about everything. “When I spoke to the Tall Ships people,” he says, “there are different vulnerabilities in different types of ships. The two fatalities raised awareness in the multihull fleet. Modern craft are using fewer and fewer shrouds and fittings. The classic fleet has boats that may have two dozen shrouds attached to the deck, but the crew may be unaware of how vulnerable those ships as they continue to age.”

In inspecting period and classic rigs, Koon says he has run into a lot of “Johnny Depp Wannabes” and that is a problem since there is a growing deficit in comprehension in tall and square-rigged vessels. Those groups need to pay attention to the rigs.

Do those vessels use traditional rigging materials?  Koon says that’s another issue for concern. “These were workboats and they were designed to fly Egyptian cotton sails and three-strand twisted hemp or manilla ropes. Now they have increased their horsepower, but the halyards don’t stretch and the sails don’t yield to wind power. Yes, people reef, but usually not until after that first gust has hit. The block-and-tackle was once meant to work with something elastic, but the boats were not meant to work with modern materials that do not yield to energy. The big point is that they can take the energy, but not the shock loading that comes one. Now loads are not absorbed, but they do fatigue the hardware.”

In the northeast, the tall-ship Niagara was re-rigged and lost 2,000 lbs, but there’s no elasticity at all now in the rig. This is typical of things that people just don’t think about.

Koon is also working with Gino Morrelli (Morrelli & Melvin), analyzing horsepower strains using equipment build in the U.K.  “We can take a sailing platform and connect digital strain gauges to work with an EKG and computer modules to determine real-times loads of strain.”

When a vessel changes service or even routes, it’s common to discover that the rigging system should have been changed to fit current use and conditions.

Koon says he is fortunate to have a network of “smart people” to back him as need. “The network is really your asset,” he says. “Some places I call twice a week for technical information. We all collaborate together, and it’s quite an interesting guild.”

Many of Koon’s presentation are archived as PowerPoints. Some specific talks about early Polynesian and Micronesian rigs on were made for the Smithsonian, and are on file there. While teaching at the USCG Academy, Koon was able to document much more information on photos with text, some with help from Mystic Seaport.

 

 

 

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