No replacement spreader end cap...is it something I can make myself?

[dancrane]

The sail-maker I asked, reckoned my little alloy end-cap (broken) was a virtual one-off, so I doubt I'll find a replacement. I'd welcome correction on that point!

View attachment 42424

The internal diameter of the spreader-end is 9mm. The shroud dia is 4mm. If I can knock up some kind of substitute end-cap which sticks hard in the spreader-end...

...maybe I can manage without factory-made parts?

I'll be glad of any advice regarding the forces spreader-end caps are under in use. To me, it looks like something I could wire-together - not slickly, but safely...or not?

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

You could fit spreader ends instead only; they are plastic white and come in all sizes.

 

[Iain C]

Dan the end cap is more of a locator. It's job is to stop the shroud coming off the end of the spreader and going either in front of, or behind, the spreader (this is assuming your spreaders are fixed length?). Any bodged fitting with a bit of tape for security should be fine.

 

[Seajet]

Dan,

how about wine bottle corks, pared down to fit the spreader tubes and wirelocked onto the shrouds ?

If being fussy they could be used as models for a machine shop to make alloy versions.

 

[bbg]

Dan,

how about wine bottle corks, pared down to fit the spreader tubes and wirelocked onto the shrouds ?

If being fussy they could be used as models for a machine shop to make alloy versions.

You beat me to it.

 

[AndrewB]

Dan the end cap is more of a locator. It's job is to stop the shroud coming off the end of the spreader and going either in front of, or behind, the spreader (this is assuming your spreaders are fixed length?). Any bodged fitting with a bit of tape for security should be fine.

But not too bodged: you don't want the shrouds popping off the spreaders at the wrong moment, that way a broken mast lies.

I drilled a couple of small holes in the end of the spreaders to take riggers wire, which is used to bind the shrouds into the remaining part of the slot at the ends of the spreaders. (This allows for a small amount of vertical movement, as the shrouds stretch under load). The sails are protected by wrapping all in duct tape.

The only drawback is that the rigging wire has to be tightened up in situ, by going up the mast when it is replaced after dismounting, but that doesn't happen all that often. Otherwise this arrangement has worked well for 15 years now.

 

[dancrane]

Thanks gents. I'm not fussy at all - as long as whatever I bodge-up is safe and doesn't need frequent re-securing...and assuming the edges of the home-made cap won't chafe the shroud, or the sails. I begin to understand why almost every edge of my rig is wrapped in tape!

Pretty sure I could cut & drill a short bit of 9mm bar to fit the hole - difficulty is maintaining its strength when most of the bar has to be cut longways for the shroud to slot in.

There's a hole drilled through the ends of the spreader arm, so the end-cap could be pinned in place. At a pinch, I s'pose I could just run heavy wire through one hole, out through the spreader end, around the shroud, back into the spreader and out through the other pin-hole. I wasn't certain if the cap needed to be more carefully engineered than that.

Cheers!

 

[Davegriff]

If you're going the DIY route, why not use a nylon bolt or bit of nylon rod shaped with a slot in the end.

 

[dancrane]

If you're going the DIY route, why not use a nylon bolt or bit of nylon rod shaped with a slot in the end.

Nice idea, much easier to cut. Will it be as resilient as the alloy end-cap I'm replacing? (Having asked that, I must reflect that the alloy version broke, so it wasn't perfect.)

 

[Davegriff]

I've seen both alloy and nylon end caps. And wood. Better to wear through an endcap than a shroud I'd say. Nylon is pretty tough though.

 

[Lakesailor]

Another job for the ubiquitous plastic kitchen cutting board.

 

[dancrane]

Thanks Lakey...not.

View attachment 42428

Hmm. Thinking creatively now...

...somewhere, SWMBO has a pack of that DAS modelling clay...

...if I punch a 12mm diameter dome-end shape into the clay, with a 4mm clay bar across it as the shroud-hole; and use a AAA-battery as a fairly perfect 9mm rod to reproduce a clay tube of that diameter, divided by a 3mm clay 'card' to form a slot for the shroud...and then pour mixed epoxy with micro-fibres into the mould...

...and if by some miracle the mould isn't critically misshapen...

...will I have a spreader-end cap made of pure epoxy? Is that likely to be strong enough, or might it be too resistant for sanding/scraping?

 

[Lakesailor]

That's just ham-fisted.

 

[dancrane]

Here's the wound, after three months:

View attachment 42432

I wish that surgeon had sewn the cringle in my reef.

I'm seriously interested in anyone's opinion of whether using a clay mould to make an all-epoxy spreader-end cap might work...

...I bought the basic West System epoxy kit months ago to do some other jobs on board, but moulding my own stuff might be a thrilling new winter hobby.

 

[alahol2]

Sounds like a job for... http://sugru.com/

 

[Davegriff]

Could well work. Certainly strong enough I think. Recently took the horse/traveller off the stern of our boat cause it was bent. One end held on with a stainless nut, the other was held by a single nut that someone had fashioned out of pure epoxy! Don't know how many (hundreds) miles its been like that!

 

[LadyInBed]

Send the good one to tudorsailor for his son to 3D print

 

[dancrane]

Thanks for these thoughts. Some smart person suggested Sugru when I asked this same question about six weeks ago.

I'll definitely have a go using epoxy and modelling clay, because I can't see a reason not to...and I've come across all sorts of small items on board which I cobbled together artlessly using chunks of wood, and which have later broken up, or were simply never exactly the shape I needed them to be.

 

[Norman_E]

Find someone with a lathe and get one machined from aluminium alloy bar. The slot should be put in by end milling.

Edit: Look for a local Society of Model Engineers, most have members who will do small one off jobs. I could do it but don't know if you are close, also I am going away for a month very soon.

 

[mrming]

Find someone with a lathe and get one machined from aluminium alloy bar. The slot should be put in by end milling.

Edit: Look for a local Society of Model Engineers, most have members who will do small one off jobs. I could do it but don't know if you are close, also I am going away for a month very soon.

+1 to having it machined.

I'm not familiar with the model engineering crowd, but round our way small engineering shops are usually very helpful. We recently had a new set of keel brackets made at a fraction of the (extortionate) price from Beneteau. A few phone calls or a drive round your local industrial estate could save you a lot of time and money.