A few days of boat preparation are an interesting opportunity to come up with solutions to some problems common to many boat types. As always the factors to consider are weight, reliability, durability, cost, and repeatability. Usually in that order.
Here are some images of what we came up with…Trapeze lines: starting from the top, the 2.5 or 3mm Dyneema is spliced over a closed thimble. Both thimbles bear on a single shackle that connects them to the conventional hounds plate or T-ball ring.
There is a 200mm length of core as a chafe guard where the line may touch the stays and sail/batten.
Since the ‘hounds’ on a rotating A Cat mast are rather crowded, and occasionally the thimbles will interfere with each-other before lining up as load is applied, some stickyback aramid cloth is applied to the exposed line where it lies in the thimble.
Here are some images of what we came up with…Trapeze lines: starting from the top, the 2.5 or 3mm Dyneema is spliced over a closed thimble. Both thimbles bear on a single shackle that connects them to the conventional hounds plate or T-ball ring.
There is a 200mm length of core as a chafe guard where the line may touch the stays and sail/batten.
Since the ‘hounds’ on a rotating A Cat mast are rather crowded, and occasionally the thimbles will interfere with each-other before lining up as load is applied, some stickyback aramid cloth is applied to the exposed line where it lies in the thimble.
Moving down, machined round aluminium thimbles are used at the bottom end for the lower splice and as stoppers for the T-handles. They also act as turning blocks for the lower strop that has a stopper ball at the bungee end…