Jury Rig Temporary Back Stay

[Douglas]

Ahoy All , very soon I will be removing and replacing my 1 X 19 SS rigging wire , while the mast is standing , one stay at a time .

I will start with the back stay . My mast is a dbl spreader 45' long , keel stepped , aluminum Forespar mast.

Are there some cautions I should consider , like using the main hallyard as a temporary replacement when taking down the SS Back Stay , or later the Cap Shrouds ?

I am thinking that the Stay Sail Stay will take most of the load when removing the Head Stay , when assending the mast in a bosun chair .

I did a forum search and archive search here , but didn't get results .

I will be trying to re-use my Sta-Lok eyes with new wedges and formers, after repolishing and inspecting them .

I have heard it said that cutting the new 1 X 19 SS wire should only be done with a wire cutter and not a hack saw or cutting wheel as the off thrown cuttings can or will contaminate the wire rope where the cut is made , is there a way to mitigate this , if necessary ?

Last time I installed the Sta-Loks , I used a 120 grit sanding flap wheel on my angle grinder to smooth the cut 1 X 19 wire ends before inserting them into the Sta-Lok terminal , thinking that this might make it a bit easier for the Former to slide around the wire ends , while tightening the terminal ,,,, does this make sense to anyone ?

BTW , I have been using that Blue RTV non-acidic neutral cure silicon to fill the terminals on assembly , and so far have not noticed any rust staining near the squeeze out around the wire , nor any rust evidence inside the terminals that I have un-assembled ,,,, any ideas out there on this ? The difficultly I have noticed is completely removing the old silicone residew , before inspection and subsequent re-assembly .


Is any one else doing this ?