Swageless fittings + Roller furling?

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global_odyssey

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My old rig had swageless terminals and was in good condition and well adjusted. However, my insurance company required new rigging because it was of unknown age.
So I decided to replace the lot.
My new rigging is Norseman-Gibb swageless, but I'm just not confident about it.
Firstly the swageless fittings don't have locking nuts as previously - they are now just Loctited instead.
Secondly, because of the above, I'm not too sure about whether it is safe to add roller furling gear to my forestay in case the torsion loads undo the aforementioned loctite and the fitting.

Am I worrying un-necessarily?

<hr width=100% size=1>I've got wind......................
...............................in my sails!
 
I think you are right to worry. I believe that this type of fitting is very strong; in fact stronger than the wire as long as you fit correctly with a new cone. They are very good for shrouds and non rotating fittings. Where your fitting is subjected to torsion, it is easy to envisage that they could potentially unscrew if the loctite were to fail and therefore they should not, IMO, be used for furling systems.

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my roller forestay was fitted with a swageless fitting (at the top). the forestay failed twice as a result of fatigue, once in the toggle below the drum and once in the wire itself 2" below the fitting.

the fitting itself was fine!

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I'd be interested to know how old your forestay was before it broke because of metal fatigue?

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the Harked system ni fact has a noeseman terminal @ the lower end above the drum.
i have known a "Shaefer" system to "un-do" @ the top due to incorrect instalation by the yard..
y not talk to your furler manufacturer?.

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Is it not the fashion now to have a solid forestay to negate the problem of twisting it with the roller reefing system?

<hr width=100% size=1>Julian

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.topcatsail.co.uk>Top Cat Homepage</A>
 
I worried about exactly this when I needed to remake the ends of my forestay (on which there is a roller-reefing system). I contacted sta-lok and was assured it was safe and commonly done. I also asked around among knowledgable rigger-types and they all assured me that there was no problem. So I fitted sta-lok terminals and the mast is still standing. I believe that the same would apply to Norsman type fittings.

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I have thought about using a fixed length stay with swaged fittings just for the forestay but then it is more difficult to adjust the mast rake to the specified amount.
What happens in time when the wire has stretched a little?

On my Plastimo 410S the holes in the chainplates below the drum will allow some limited fixed-point adjustment. This might be the answer.

In fact the turnbuckle currently used would be very difficult to adjust and almost impossible to lock-off since it is largely hidden inside the furling drum.

It all seems like it's going to be so easy when you buy this gear - but a nightmare when you actually try to fit it!


<hr width=100% size=1>I've got wind......................
...............................in my sails!
 
Likewise mine on a GOIOT (can that spelling be right?) roller. Like your's now 20 years old. Think I will really have to replace this year. My quandry is whether to replace most of the rigging with swaged both ends, or fit sta-loks at the bottom of all.

Vic

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age of forestay

my forestay was 2 years and 12000 miles old. it failed as a result of flexing of the unstayed mast imposing repeated shock loads. we are re-designing the furling arrangements to prevent this.

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