De masting

[DN 5449]

My mast and sail came down last night when my quick release pin for my shroud attacment fell out.I guess the ball bearing come out.Not near as catastrophic as losing the mast on soft water.just took boom off steped mast and put the pin for the tack of the sail in place of the shroud pin and used shroud pin for tack.All good took qall of 5 mins.

[DN5358]

If you have adjuster plates and are using just the quick release, they have a tendency of spreading.  A bolt in one of the lower holes will prevent that. 

[Bob Rast DN1313]

After inserting quick pin  pull on them  and make sure they wont come out, the adjuster holes can get elongate with use.
When setting up keep pins off ice or out of any water, they can freeze in open position and come out.
If you have long tube adjusters you can insert a extra pin at the top for emergencys

Bob Rast DN 1313

[DN 5449]

On further inspection,the ball bearing is gone from the pin,I guess that makes the pin useless.

[sieglege]

Many people also use a kind of pin keeper made from a very small diameter bungee strapped around the adjuster plate and pin. I will post a pic when I have access to my stuff.

[Geoff Sobering]

Many people also use a kind of pin keeper made from a very small diameter bungee strapped around the adjuster plate and pin.

Same here. They are very strong (the pin is solid) and secure.

[Paul Goodwin - US 46]

Quick pins are a bad idea on the side stays.  I learned a long time ago not to use quick pins.  I don't even like the bungee cord ones, although I've never heard of a failure.  Ron Sherry convinced me years ago that the extra 30 seconds it takes to insert ring-dings, added together during a career of iceboating, is more than made up for by the 1 time your mast does not come down during a race.

p.s.  You'll never lose a pin on the forestay - the load never goes below 500 lbs or so.  Still, why take chances.  Solid clevis pins with rings never fail.