Round brass thimble strength?

[benz]

I am considering runners such as you describe, but have to work out a few issues of proper lead. And I'd have to buy another winch handle--something I've not missed since it went by the board a year ago or so. Do you fear possibly over-tightening the runner with a winch?
Ben

[Brion Toss]

Hi again,
Think about what the runners are meant to do: oppose the pull of the forestay, just as the backstay opposes the pull of the jibstay. If the working load of the forestay is something like 15 to 20% of break in a breeze, some of that load gets taken up by the mast's own stiffness, but most of it is left to the runners. It is possible to flatten the luff of the forestays'l too much, but it ain't easy, and it [/i]is[/i] easy to check the effect by eye. That leaves the most likely failure point to be the deck block and its padeye, so be sure of your scantlings.
Now compare your 40:1 or so winch power with the 4:1 of a typical runner setup. Basically, you can only hope to snub against the pull of the forestay, and that only if you take up in time; you cannot hope actually to flatten that luff. Plus of course, as mentioned before, those blocks are a literal and figurative headache.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss