Suncor Quick Attach Fittings

[Matthew Sebring]

I've not personally used or even encountered these fittings before but for some reason have been asked about them recently by two separate customers in two different applications. One was repairing his own bobstay on his Cape Dory while the other was trying to decide whether or not to buy the hamilton marine lifeline kit which includes them (also, coincidentally on a cape dory). Now I am a big fan of the Hi-Mod fittings personally and will continue to use them in the future but I am curious about these. Looking at their video it's just very hard to believe they will hold. Does anyone have any real world experience with them?

[Brion Toss]

Hello,
I have a not-entirely-satisfactory history with Suncor. They claim 100% efficiency, but have so far failed to qualify what this means. The gold standard is no loss of wire strength, but this requires knowing what the actual strength is. Standard (rated) published strength is only a reference point, with plus-or-minus tolerances allowed. Some of the better wire brands might break at 15% or more above rated. So a terminal, for instance, could weaken a wire by 15% or more, and still meet 100% of rated strength. But what if, as is often the case, the actual and rated strengths coincide closely. Now you have an 85% efficient terminal, about what you could get with cable clamps. Another way to look at this: a 15% loss is about like cutting away three yarns of a 1x19 wire.
Clearly, the best terminals are the ones that weaken the wire least. So far, Hayn's are the only mechanical terminals with reliable reports of 100% efficiency, based on actual wire strength. It is possible that Suncor's are as efficient, but so far, after repeated requests, over several years, they have not provided any useful data. Until they do, I would count them as useful for emergency terminals (which is their recommendation), but nothing else.
As a separate issue, it would also be nice to know about metallurgy properties, for long-term strength.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

[Matthew Sebring]

Thanks Brion, that's exactly the sort of feedback I was looking for. I had no idea the Hi-Mods tested more successfully than the others. I'd long since switched to those for appearance / ease of use / reuse-ability issues.