Take care,
Mark
P-14 #202 "Apres Vous"
Sunnyvale, CA
William Longyard wrote:
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> West Wight Potter Website at URL
> http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> Bernard Moitissier, a blue water sailor to be sure, completely avoided
> stainless wire in favor of galvanized wire saying that it was less
> brittle, and therefore more likely to survive shock loads.
>
> Glad to hear any opinions on this.
>
> Bill Longyard
>
> SR500F@aol.com wrote:
> >
> > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> > West Wight Potter Website at URL
> > http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
> > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> > I have also read "Understanding Rigs and Rigging" and had the same concern as
> > yourself. Even the author finds fault in each rigging system he described - he
> > mentions the same concerns about corrosion in the axially crimped components
> > that our pal SF mentions in his post .
> >
> > I have rationalized it all as follows:
> >
> > 1x 19 rigging wire is the best and strongest stuff in a straight pull.
> > However, it doesn't like to be formed into a tight radius, is stressed
> > unevenly, and is weaker in the area of the bend. Indeed, even the tiny 3/32
> > 1x19 wire used on my P-15 cannot be bent tight enough to even hold the
> > thimbles tightly.
> >
> > The right wire to be used with thimbles and crimps is the flexible 7x19. This
> > does indeed work well around the terminations - I've made several tack
> > pendants for my jib (courtesy of the self-serve equipment at my local West
> > Marine store) of different lengths. However, 7x 19 wire is not as strong and
> > is a little more stretchy than 1x19.
> >
> > So we have a stronger wire that's weakened a bit at the ends or a weaker wire
> > that crimps nicely. I've concluded that it's more or less a wash. I think we
> > can assume, since boats larger and heavier than the Potters use the same size
> > rigging, that the standard stuff has plenty of margin in normal use.
> >
> > I lurked on the Catalina 22 list a while back and within the first couple of
> > days there was a long thread on broken masts - most initiated by standing
> > rigging failures. I've followed the Potter list for almost a year and I can
> > recall only one lost mast - That being that P-15 in the Sea of Cortez - and
> > that was initiated by a pop rivet pulling out, not by wire breakage.
> >
> > If I was going to re-do the standing rigging of my P-15, rather than going
> > with expensive terminations on 1 x 19 wire, I think I'd use 1/8" 7x19 (one
> > size larger), thimbles and crimps. That would have similar performance, I
> > believe, and I could make the parts, and any subsequent replacements required,
> > myself, which appeals to me.
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
> > Dave Kautz
> > P-15 #1632 Tilly Lucy
> > Palo Alto, CA