Info from Brooks Jones of Sailing Services
I asked Brooks to give his opinion. Brooks has been swaging wire all over the Caribbean and beyond for 30+ years. They use BoatLife on every swage and Sta Lok.
Bob
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We have been using Life Caulk- Boat Life brand polysulfide with no
problems. We also feel that the STA-LOK terminals design lends itself to a
very simple "potting" with the bedding compound. We also put Locktite
thread locking fluid on the threads at initial assembly to prevent any
chance of galling and to keep the terminal together. We are using the same
Locktite as used in the Harken roller furling assemblies on the torque links
for the foils but the blue version will also work. See complete directions
on our web site.
We also have pull tested Sta-Lok and swage terminals and the wire broke
first at the exit from the terminal at above the rated breaking strength of
the wire in all cases.
I would be interested in more details from the " no-goo camp" on "their
goo test" - what kind of goo? etc.
I can say that we have had rigging tested to failure in real life conditions
like when a boat mast hits a bridge. The wires will break but the wire does not pull out if properly swaged or assembled with a STA-LOK.
We have seen wire that has pulled out of swage terminals but in those cases
the swage terminal was not swaged to the proper dimensions.
Only exceptions to this statement would be in some cases with Dyform wire
and swage terminals. We swage with the addition of special "diamond dust"
and "thread sealant compound" as directed by Navtec. We do like to use
the STA-LOK terminal on Dyform wire.
I think it is important to the long term life of the swage terminal to use a
rotary swaging machine and type 316 SS wire and terminals and swage to the
specified after swage diameter so as to obtain long term corrosion
resistance.
Rotary swaging machine leaves a smooth and straight shank which is
noticeably different than results from other types of swage terminals. The
advantage here is the long term resistance to corrosion and I am sure that
the other types of swaging will develops the strength of the wire if
properly done.
Regards, Brooks Paul Jones from Sailing Services, Inc.
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