The best way to rig a jackstay

[marchhare]

I have had both round wire and flat webbing, I did find the round wire more hazardous when on deck, however do appreciate the concerns of UV damage to webbing. I will however stick to webbing on replacement.

 

[estarzinger]

What knot do others use?

I realize you are probably asking about securing the final end (after the lashing is tensioned) . . . . . historically a series of half hitches or constrictor knots around the complete/whole lashing has been used, and then perhaps to be extra secure the tail taped or sewn/tacked down. However in my pull testing I discovered that this method weakens the lashing because the friction from the half hitches prevents all the strands/legs from equalizing tension and sharing the load. So, it is better to half hitch or constrictor knot back to only one leg/strand of the lashing rather than around the whole lashing. However when doing this it is slightly more prone to slipping and you need to use more half hitches or constrictor knots and/or more securely sew down the tail. In my testing of dyneema lashings I found 5 half hitches to be the minimum number to make it secure (in dacron it would be less - 2 is probably enough). Your round turn can't hurt but probably does not help very much (I did not test that - it would depend on the rope and what it was around).