[Rhodes22-list] Spreader Failure

[Steven Alm]

It was a fantastic day!  Sunny and hot and winds 9-12.  Perfect!  Mary Ann,
Judi and I were having a wonderful sail when all of a sudden...SNAP!
WAWAZZAT!?  We looked around and decided it was extra loose line in the jib
furling drum that let go and we just went on.  Sailed happily for a couple
hours before we pulled into a bay and rolled up the sails, dropped the lunch
hook and went for a swim.  From the water, I looked up and saw that the port
upper shroud had popped out of the spreader boot!  That was the snap we
heard but we sailed on anyway, unaware of the problem.  What a tribute to
the over-built engeneering of the Rhodes 22!!  We had a wonderful sail
completely unaware that the upper shroud was off!!   I guess I have to add
at this point that the captain was totally negligent in misdiagnosing the
loud SNAP and not noticing this very important failure in the rigging until
he was in the water swimming and looked up to admire the mast and...  OH, MY
GOD!!

So.....We motored back to the dock, captain cursing himself, and tried to
inspect the spreader boot with binoculars but it was too close for the
binocs to focus but the boot looked pretty mangled.  Is this an easy fix?
Are spreader boots something that I can get my hands on easily?  I'm hoping
not to have to order from GB.  We have a WM and another sail shop close and
I'm hoping I can just drop the mast and replace the boot.  Yes?  Please,
somebody say Yes.

Slim