[Joe Henderson]

Dear All,

I have no idea how long this tuff will last in standing rigging.

I know that fragile Kevlar lasted around the world on Rothman's runners, checkstays and upper diagonals, so who knows.

I suppose it will be up to us collectively, as a trade, to do the best job we can, try to second guess and pre-empt some of the more obvious failures and pitfalls and then back the work up with vigilant inspections when possible. Pretty much what we have all been trying to do for the past thirty or so years.

I pre-stressed and served more in an attempt to hold the elongation on the runners than any anti chafe measure.

In the end I just used Vectran in it's normal polyester cover.

I do think that service will be a good thing on fibre standing rigging. It's hard-ish exterior should guard against chafe from sheets and will let you know early if something untoward has happened to the stay. I think it is likely that you will see some distortion of the serving which will draw your attention to a potential problem. I also reckon it looks better than a bit of braided cover and it will be easier to keep ratlines in place.

I like the idea of the alloy deadeyes. We made some out of Tuphnol a while ago and they went ok. We made sure that the laminates of linen were aligned across the load paths etc. I imagine the load directions are pretty much the same as in a sheave with the pin taking the place of the lanyard etc. On the smaller stays rig we actually used some Main Marine Tuphnol sheaves and just drilled and scored some new holes for the lanyard, round off the lips of the sheave and it looks like a bought one..

The timber shelled modern block is a great idea and works really well. Lets you have all the fun of varnishing without the pain of friction-plus blocks. Our grandfathers would have used them like a shot if they had been available, same as most things.

Make sure you don't glue the block shut. You do not want to have to break the timber to dismantle and repair the block like I did. Who knew that a bit of Sika could end up costing me so much!

Regards,
Joe Henderson