HM standing Rigging. Why use DeadEyes?
 

I've noticed people using DeadEyes instead of turnbuckles when switching to HM standing rigging, like Dynex Dux 75.

Why can't the original turnbuckles be used?

Thanks
Chris

Deadeyes are so much more cool looking, and probably weigh less, all told, than all the metalwork of turnbuckles and toggles and such. There is a net reduction in parts that may fail (clevis pins, etc.) , and lanyards are easy to inspect and relatively cheap to replace. Also, have you seen the price of bronze turnbuckles lately? It is becoming an outrage.
Ben

This raises the question, why can't modern deadeyes be used with wire rigging?

Jim Fulton

csandys - you can use turnbuckle , no problem. we do that. both with dux and with vectran.

jim- you can use cable with modern deadeyes, except the bending radius must be considered, and the radii of the current deadeyes will limit you to smaller cables than the deadeyes are geared toward, and 7x19 cable too.

you can also use Dux or vectran with old fashioned deadeyes, we do that too.

the coolest thing of all is you can just use wire and turnbuckles also!


for a real world test of just how much difference weight aloft makes, go out sailing on a rail down day, and send someone aloft, right to the mast head. not the heel angle, then let them down again. whats the difference?

Tension
 

Hello,
Turnbuckles and deadeyes are both means to apply mechanical advantage to tension rigging. Turnbuckles are simply more powerful, a lot more powerful, and use less effort to apply their power. That's why they've displaced deadeyes for most applications. On boats where tension isn't so important, like multihulls, for example, where hull flexion prevents high standing loads, deadeyes are fast, cheap, simple, etc. On most contemporary monohulls, the presence of deadeyes might reflect how tricky it is to get the stays the right length when they're made from Spectra...
Fair leads,
Brion Toss