Bungee Cord Splice, Is there such a thing?

[Neptunes Violin]

PS:

I like Stumble's idea. No reason you cannot break the runner into two pieces. So when not in use, the "upper half" is secured at the mast base.

When required, you take "lower half", connect it to the upper half and it's done.

Of course, there is the added expense of the splice fittings

[pyrofly73]

Brian D: What kind of boat/rig are we talking about ?
the boat is a creekmore 34' cutter.
deck stepped mast is ng60 54' from the deck to the masthead.
double spreaders @15' and 30' above deck
boom nb40
both headsails on roller furling(profurl)
main 2 reefs using isomats inboom single line reefing.

I bought this boat in pieces and have been rigging and building her for the past 2 years. the boat was never rigged prior to my purchase so the mast is a brand new. It was in storage for 20+ years while the previous owner gave up on the project. All the standing rigging and running rigging is new. I am now getting close to going for my first sail. I expect delivery of my 2 head sails for Xmas The new main is sitting in its new sail cover. I don't expect much use of the running backs because I so far have been a fair weather sailor on my Morgan 30 (sloop = no running backs). I expect to use the running backs on the creekmore if my mast pumps and when running under reefed main and stay sail alone. My boat is also unique in that my mast is an isomat, every other creekmore i have seen had a home made mast that bends like spaghetti I think the isomat is far more rigid and should alleviate pumping.

Do I have the wrong Idea as to what runners are for?


Neptues violin: Posting my findings.
I originally was thinking of attaching tangs for the running backs, but after much thought It seemed silly to attach something else to the mast when i had spreader bases with holes that were obviously meant to be used. The splicing was straight forward. directly to the stemball eyes (navtec). The eyes have a nice 1/2" hole. I used 7/16" stayset x plus that is now discontinued. hopefully this line will not stretch too much for the purpose, if not amsteel it will be. I feel like you about runners for stormy conditions If its more than 4' seas and 15 kts I usually go bass fishing or stick to the bay :-D, My theory is that i want them in case I'm in the middle of the gulf stream on my way to Bimini and am stuck in less than favorable conditions.

If it's not blowing like crazy this weekend I will take my fat butt up the mast and check out how the stemball eyes look with the runners in the tensioned position. I'll let you know if it looks out of wack. I'm worried about cracking my spreader bases too after i read brians first reply. (it made a lot of sense)

Stumble's idea:
what you describe sounds exactly like what other creekmores that I have seen have set up. The only difference is that they put the eye about 6' up and then have a purchase 4:1 or 6:1 (not sure) to tighten the runners. when not being used they take the runners either to the mast or to the rail outboard of the mast and use the purchase to keep them in check. Omitting the purchase and attaching a line that I could take to the winches would work fine, BUT the runners are not self retracting. I have tried to rig my boat to avoid trips forward (single line reefing, roller furling, etc) It would be nice if the runners tended to themselves as well. 2 trips forward for every tack in less than nice weather doesn't sound fun to me.

CJV
I love the bury idea, but it will be impossible to replace the bungee after it rots. If i was using something like amsteel maybe, but in stayset x plus I would have to replace the line...
I can picture your gybing incident. I'll make sure to keep my eye on the runners and insure full retraction prior to course changes. (GOOD TIP)

I'll check back next week and post my findings on the stemball eyes. If any of you are interested in my project look for "creekbuild" on myspace there are lots of pics to see the progress.

have a great weekend,

Xavier

[Brion Toss]

Hi all,
This is the kind of question that tends to devolve into mush, as we are actually talking about several things, including:
Ways to retract the runners automatically;
Ways to retract them manually;
Lifespan of bungy cord;
Methods of terminating bungy cord;
Runner configuration for stowage;
Runner tang configuration;
and General runner usage.
And we haven't finished spinning off yet, as the topic of HM pendants, stripped runners, tackle-vs-winch power, etc. have yet to be broached.
All very lovely, but I don't think we are addressing anything fully. So in the interests of thread sanity, I'll just address the original question about automatic retrieval via bungy: don't do it. Bright idea, and it will probably work for, oh, upwards of half an hour, but as noted above the stuff just doesn't last long. And even if it did, it's a fairly elaborate solution in search of a problem; even on big traditional boats with heavy wire pendants and massive blocks, runners can be easy to tame with light tricing lines. It's all a matter of good leads and quick on-off belays. And with HM and no blocks it's almost not worth bothering to trice, as the stuff tends to just get out of the way on the leeward side. But if you do add tricing lines, lead them to PX cleats handy to the winch. Quick little things.
Also, except on extreme rigs, mostly fractional, you will likely be using your runners a minority of the time (though more than 10%). If you have frequent need, it implies a rig tweezy enough to be worth the effort of tending.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

[Neptunes Violin]

Hey Pyro:

Have you been up the mast to see if the stemballs will run fairly?