Joe and Jake,
Thanks for the response. Lots of good advice. Very helpful.
For Jake: I have nothing but the greatest respect for Pete Langley and his gang at PTF. In fact, PTF cast my kranze iron, whisker stay tangs, dinghy chalks, and bowsprit heel socket--all works of art. Additionally, Pete spent a lot of time talking me through how to build a pattern for my gammon iron, which I did, and it came out great . . . and as you mentioned he saved me a bunch of money in the process. I don't know many folks that would do that. We have in fact discussed rigging and it is obvious to me that Pete knows what he is talking about. But we also discussed there is seldom only one way to solve a problem.
My concern is that my medium aspect rig was originally supported by tangs, swaged fittings, and 1x19 wire. Making the conversion to 7x7 spliced wire has required me to bump up a size to maintain adequate strength. Those PTF thimbles are big and I keep adding weight aloft. So, I am looking to see if they really "must" be that big for my application. I have seen smaller ones used with great success but I don't know what the source was. Brion mentioned to me that I could splice 1x19 to keep the weight down, etc, but there comes a time when you feel like you are starting to swim up stream. I keep looking at that dynex dux! My willingness to incorporated spliced wire, for all it's many benefits and despite my investment in time and effort, is beginning to be severely tested.
I still have some time to explore the options.
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