row2k Features
Riggers Tricks
The Top Nut Holder
June 26, 2014
row2k hackers

Here is a great trick that you can use if you have Vespolis with "euro-style" riggers to help you avoid dropping or losing the top nut when adjusting the rig: it is the handy fact that the top nut fits right into the holes on the metal flange that connects to the main stay­an instant Top Nut Holder.

Now, those holes are primarily there to save a bit of weight, and we cannot say for sure whether the folks in New Haven intentionally made one of them just the perfect size for the top nut, but it fits like a charm. Popping the top nut into this built-in holster keeps it completely out of the way of any rigging adjustments you might be making, and also--of course--keeps it from either rattling around in the hull or getting the insides of the shoes greasy.

Maybe the best part of this trick, though, is this: when you casually drop the top nut into this spot which no one has ever noticed and yet is perfectly suited for it, then you, my friend, will look like a rigging genius. How's that for a neat Rowing Hack tip?

You can use a version of this trip on some wing riggers, too, and other types of side-mounted riggers, as long as the rigger has a slotted seat for the pin (as opposed to a tube-mounted pin). As long as your rigging doesn't involve moving the pin, most top nuts will fit in the open side of the same slot and--while not quite as slick as the trick pictured here--you still get the same effect: a snugly stored top nut that won't go missing while you make your height and pitch adjustments.

Have a neat rigging trick to pass along? Share your tips--and hacks--in the comments below.

Do you know of a great rowing hack to suggest for future inclusion here? Send it to us!

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Comments

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Boatnerd42
06/26/2014  7:43:05 AM
It's funny because the pictured Vespoli "Top Nut" is not a nut at all, but a bolt (technically it's a screw, unless you count the pin as a sort of a nut). And as coincidental (or intentional) as using the holes on the riggers is, if one were to need to remove the topstay/backstay - to move the pin, for instance - one could simply thread the bolt (or nut for that matter) loosely back onto the pin itself. By doing that you could flip the boat and still retain the bolt (or nut) without losing it.


Boatnerd42
06/26/2014  7:43:48 AM
That said, I was not aware of this.




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