I believe I kept tension on the line, always, and that it never
"fell" off the drum. Rather, the wraps would stack in such a manner
to exceed the diameter of the flanges on the drum, and slip over them
-- and, since the line was under tension, this would instantly pull
the line down around the stay. The problem has apparently vanished
with the smaller diameter line. There also seems to be a slight
problem with the lead not being quite fair, and causing the line to
stick up on the top half of the drum more than the bottom.
One of the concerns I had about smaller line was the load. The
breaking strength of line in those size ranges varies widely -- maybe
a factor of 10, as I recall, from around a hundred pounds to a
thousand pounds or so -- it varied widely with the material, and in
the small sizes a 1/16th inch difference in diameter makes a huge
difference in cross-section area. Also, I didn't want line that had
any stretch. So I ended up getting some fairly hi-tech stuff that
cost me about $20, I think. (All these details get hazy...)
Kent
-- Kent Crispin "Do good, and you'll be kent@songbird.com lonesome." -- Mark Twain P19 #855 "Peregrine"