Swageless Fittings

[C08]

I am fitting a pair of "bobstays" to stop my extended forestay/bowsprit from lifting. I will use 5mm 1x19 stainless wire with swageless fittings. I have previously fully re-rigged the standing rigging on 3 boats using Norseman and Sta-Lok swageless fittings for the bottom ends. They both use a cone over the dentral core and the outer strands splayed over the cone and tucked into the end fitting and then screwed up. The Norseman I think anso has a little cogged wheel to lay the strands nicely. I think S3i use a similar methed.
There are also on the market swageless fittings where the cone just fits over the whole wire and it is then bolted up. Does anyone have direct experience of this type of fitting. Although instinctively I feel that this is liable to "slip" at lower loads than the splay over a cone system it is hard to get any factual info on this so I am interested in any views or experiences of this type of swagess fitting. They are often unbranded but 1/2 the cost and my application is way below full rigging requirements so I am tempted.

 

[sealegsjim]

I used this company for the stateless fittings- http://www.tecni-cable.co.uk .The worked fine but I must say I only used them to form a 'gate' in the guardrails. As you say, I lot cheaper than the Sta-Lok

 

[DownWest]

Re previous comments, you can use Talurit up to 5mm 1X19.
I also did a rerig of a big yacht. All 12mm wire on a 35 ton ketch and used Norseman, as it was the only option back then. Now, I would get the top swages done by S3i and use Sta-lok or Norseman for the lowers. That is, if I could not accurately measure the lengths in situ and have both ends done.

 

[C08]

Thanks for the Tecni link Sealegs. I see that Tecni claim 80-100 wire strength for the terminal. Swaged at the top and swageless at the bottom is the way to go if there is any uncertanty about the rigging wire lengths although a swageless terminal is about the same cost as ready swaged up!

 

[vyv_cox]

I understood tha Norseman were no longer in (this) business?

 

[Graham376]

Petersen seem to have a good reputation - http://spars.co.uk/

 

[LadyInBed]

A cone that doesn't separate the cores and just relies on pinching seems to be a very low strength affair to me.

 

[C08]

There seem to be 2 types of these. One also has a brass ring after the split cone and the wire end and the other does not . It may be the up the blind hole (eye end0 there is an inverted v shaped cone that drives into the centre of the wire and splays out the wires into a tapered hole? So there may be more to it than you can see.
I agree that instictively it seems a potentially weaker joint but that may not be the case depending on the engineering, which is why I was looking for feedback about swageless fittings experiences.

 

[Graham376]

There's discussion on Cruiser Forum about various types - http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f116/hi-mod-sta-lok-or-norseman-31283.html