Hammocks and stress on standing rigging

[Douglas]

Gee , David , we would need more info to attribute your backstay swage failure, due to your awning attachment ???

In rigging classes that I have taken with Brion as the instructor, he emphazises (sp-?) avoid "Point Loading" , as it is much better to spread the load .

My awning is also attached onto the back stay and to keep it taught, I have to pull the attached line very hard, so this question concerns me too .

I have hung the whisker pole above the boom and under the awning so some of the awning weight is resting on that pole,,,, but it is still point loading the back stay.

[Ian McColgin]

You can calculate the added tension on the stays from stay length, deflection, weight and what you remember of the parallelogram of force. That's really not going to hurt the stay, but if you go out of your way to make it a sharp bend point curve in the same place every time, that could become an issue. On my schooners - boats with stays unlike my current catboat - I had some sort of halyard along each stay to hold the thing up and I always led lines as far forward and aft to the rail to reduce the stress on the stays, really just for good measure.