Cotter pins or rings

[Talbot]

I have always used split pins in my standing rigging, until this year when I replaced all the standing rigging (bank manager still feeling faint) this came with cotter rings instead of pins - much easier to insert, but do they give the same degree of safety???

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[vyv_cox]

I find that rings tend to snag on ropes, clothes, etc and sometimes open up. I guess that if the ring is of large wire thickness this might not happen but I prefer a pin for safety. The only exception might be in the end of the screw thread in bottle screws.

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[ex-Gladys]

Split rings can be straitghened out by catching on stuff. Split pins can also do damage to people, why not tape over the split rings like they do in dinghies?

<hr width=100% size=1>Larry Botheras

Anderson 26 "Amber"

 

[Evadne]

I know of two different types of split rings. One has no projections, like the sort of ring used to hold a tag onto a cat's collar. The other sort tend to be more robust and have a bent tang at one end that projects into the centre of the ring, like the more robust sort of keyring. I've not got a lot of sails or sheets that can dislodge them anyway, but I find the latter, though more expensive, more reliable. Even the boatyard have difficulty destroying them when they put the mast up for me. The others rarely last more than a season.
Taping up vulnerable ones is still a good idea.

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[sailorman]

cotter pin & tape em up

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