Sta-Lok or Swaged standing rigging?

jamie N

jamie N

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As the title states, I'm going to be replacing some rigging and only have experience with 'tried & tested' talurit swaged stuff, not Sta-Lok, and would appreciate advice from those who know about this stuff.
I've terminated wire lifting umbilicals rated at 3500kgs using wirelok, but never anything as small as the 6mm rigging on STAKKR.
 
I will shortly being doing the same job. Currently I have swaged and itg feels smooth. However chatting with someone who has completed a round the world trip, they would never use swaged but Norseman or Staylok fittings. The reason is they can be undone and the wire can be checked for fracturing of the strands. Also the end fittings can be reused when you replace the rig next time making it cheaper as you only replace the wire not the fittings. Also he said longer lengths of wire can have the end section removed and then reused for a shorter part of the rig. So I shall be using Norseman or Staylok fittings as you cn fit them yourself with an assistant and accurately cut the wire to length at the boat.
 
Just gone through the same thought process for a 40ft boat full re rig. The additional cost for swage less fittings and labour was considerable (big rig) . Also spoon fittings were only available in swaged so almost defeated the reasons for diy swageless
The riggers and I could not see the payback for the costs so went with Stalok swaged fittings again
 
We have a mixture of swaged and stalok. Short wires tend to be the wires that break strands. On our main mast with 28,000nm on the rig we have broken a strand on the babystay. It's one of the short wires that gets plenty of on/off load going up wind. We recently upgraded to compact strand wire and Stalok fittings on just the babystay. It's 30% stronger. With swaged fittings you tend to get strand failure at the swage terminal. This very rarely happens with Stalok. I think they are a superior terminal solution.
At part of a recent refit we replaced the mizzen rig completely. It's 6mm wire. We used Stalok fittings and bottlescrews throughout.
It's very easy to do especially on small wires sizes like 6mm.
 
Kelpie said:
Don't forget Petersen Hi-Mod fittings which unlike other swageless designs do not need any replacement parts.
Click to expand...
Just been checking their site as I'd never heard of them before, and it does seem an extremely efficient system that's simplicity itself to assemble.
The 'Offshore Tiger' part of me does want it load tested prior to use though, but without extra expense, this isn't going to be possible.
 
We are re-rigging with swaged on top and swageless at the bottom. Stays supplied over-length. This is the standard way of replacing a forestay if you can't get the foil and swaging machine in the same place. It allows me to replace one stay at a time (well more likely I'll do it in pairs) without the need to drop the mast.
In another ten years time I might go swageless throughout. This spreads the cost and I'll probably know by then whether this is my forever boat.

On the previous boat I decided to go swageless throughout but then sold her before I'd even fitted the new rig. It would have needed two re-rigs before breaking even, which is a very long payback time for a boat in normal use. Oh well the new owner has £500 worth of lovely brand new Sta Lok bottle screws still in their packets, hope he appreciates them.
 
Kelpie said:
We are re-rigging with swaged on top and swageless at the bottom. Stays supplied over-length. This is the standard way of replacing a forestay if you can't get the foil and swaging machine in the same place. It allows me to replace one stay at a time (well more likely I'll do it in pairs) without the need to drop the mast.
In another ten years time I might go swageless throughout. This spreads the cost and I'll probably know by then whether this is my forever boat.

On the previous boat I decided to go swageless throughout but then sold her before I'd even fitted the new rig. It would have needed two re-rigs before breaking even, which is a very long payback time for a boat in normal use. Oh well the new owner has £500 worth of lovely brand new Sta Lok bottle screws still in their packets, hope he appreciates them.
Click to expand...
My driver for swagelss fittings is reliability. Their failure rate is lower than swaged. In addition, if sailing off the beaten track, I can fix a broken strand, if it should happen, simply by removing a fitting and shortening the wire. I then use extension plates to reconnect the wire or use a swivell.
One the main mast we have some swaged fittings. We carry spare 12mm Stalok fittings should be get a strand failure. The rig uses eye fittings exclusively so very easy to provision for spare terminals.
 
When I had a new Z Spars mast, it came with Stalok fittings and overlength wires (6mm). Despite never using these before, I found it easy to do.
 
As noted above, many forestays use swageless fittings, at least one end to enable furler fitting on boat.

The saving with swageless comes if you are confident on DIY and the ability to re-use the fittings (if you still have the boat a few years later). And depending on your sailing mode, maintainability might be a factor.

I used Petersen Hi-Mod on my forestay this year, mainly due to a problem discovered shortly before lift-in with no riggers available. I thought they were nicely engineered fittings.

Will be looking seriously at using them for rest of standing rigging this winter.
 
If diy then buying swaged both ends wire, but double the lengths required, then cutting the wire in half and putting Swageless ends on the cut end works well.
All my wires are swaged at the top with Swageless bottom ends.
When I shortened my backstays by about an inch it was an easy job at the minimal cost of a pack of cones.
 
jamie N said:
Just been checking their site as I'd never heard of them before, and it does seem an extremely efficient system that's simplicity itself to assemble.
The 'Offshore Tiger' part of me does want it load tested prior to use though, but without extra expense, this isn't going to be possible.
Click to expand...
You can have a look at my STA LOKs on Thursday young man.
 
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