Hi-Mod, Sta-Lok, or Norseman ?

[Orion Jim]

Looking for your preferences and why. Personal experience with ease of installation would be appreciated. Time to tend to the winter projects!

[donradcliffe]

Riggingonly.com carries all three, and they have some discussion. The Hi-Mod are a bit easier to install and are completely resusable, but they all work well.

[cburger]

Suncor Good Old Boat, Quick Attach, Sta-Lok, Norseman, swasless fittings

[Wotname]

I have only used Sta-Lok, found them very easy to use and can't fault the quality.

[barnakiel]

We use Sta-Lok on the main fore-stay (the one that carries full load in our boat), re-used once, 6 years circumnavigation, no problem.

b.

[s/v Jedi]

Norseman were the original ones, right? We have Norseman (now part of NavTec I think) and I know many boats that have used them for long times without any trouble. Assuming you have 1x19 wire, they are as easy to put on as any other. The only important thing is to check how far the cone goes on the wire.

I would not hesitate to use StaLok because I know boats that have those for a long time without trouble too. I'm not so sure about the other brands... they all seem to try to come up with some form of un-needed features just to create a unique sellingpoint but I don't believe any of them will work better than the first original Norseman.

cheers,
Nick.

[cal40john]

HyMods should be easier to use because you don't have to unlay the outer set of strands to go over the ferrule like you do for Sta lok and Norseman . HyMod hasn't been around very long so doesn't have much of a track record, and I thought I read somewhere that they were recently having QC issues, but this is a third hand report of a rumour, so I wouldn't dismiss them without checking into the veracity of the rumour.

I've done some Sta-loks for my boat, have only seen HyMod on the web.

John

[s/v Jedi]

What is not easy about unlaying the outer set of strands? They want to unlay by themselves, it's harder to keep them from doing it!

ciao!
Nick.

[roverhi]

Heard a rumor that Brione Toss stopped using HyMods because of poor machining of the grooves the outer wire has to pass through. They were spending too much time filing and remanufacturing the fittings to make them work.

[cal40john]

Originally Posted by cal40john

HyMods should be easier to use because you don't have to unlay the outer set of strands to go over the ferrule like you do for Sta lok and Norseman . HyMod hasn't been around very long so doesn't have much of a track record, and I thought I read somewhere that they were recently having QC issues, but this is a third hand report of a rumour, so I wouldn't dismiss them without checking into the veracity of the rumour.

I've done some Sta-loks for my boat, have only seen HyMod on the web.

John

I made a mistake, I was thinking Quick Attach when I typed HyMod.

[MC01]

Practical sailor has reviewed these a couple times. Their conclusion was a good swage will hold 100% of the breaking strength of the wire whereas Noreseman and Sta-lok will hold about 90%. They mention also that in their testing Noreseman fittings failed at around 7300lbs of stress whereas the Sta-loks failed at around 8000lbs. Another review I found somewhere confirmed that result as well (can't remember the source off hand). I've read that the new Suncor are easier to use (just slip a sleeve over the wire), but I haven't seen anything about the strength or reliability of those yet.

[cal40john]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

What is not easy about unlaying the outer set of strands? They want to unlay by themselves, it's harder to keep them from doing it!

ciao!
Nick.

I concede to your infinite wisdom, it is much easier to unlay the outer set, carefully arrange them such that none cross over each other and make sure the one crossing over the groove does not slide into it than shoving the wire into a Quick Attach fitting and tightening it.

John

[SVKokopelli]

We just re-rigged the boat and our rigger recommended Sta-Locs. They offered all 3 types but liked the quality of the Sta-Locs and the fact that the wires are bent over the ferrule and under the cone on the ends...providing a little bit extra measure of assurance that things won't pull apart. The HyMods were of equal quality but they didn't like the fact that the ends of the wires are not bent over . In all three cases, pull tests showed the wire broke before the fitting. They observed that the wire started to pull out of the HyMods but the wire failed before it pulled out all the way.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by cal40john

I concede to your infinite wisdom, it is much easier to unlay the outer set, carefully arrange them such that none cross over each other and make sure the one crossing over the groove does not slide into it than shoving the wire into a Quick Attach fitting and tightening it.

John,

I'm not so old yet, so my wisdom isn't something you should concede to so quickly ;-)

Ah, I see, you didn't concede after all, good ;-) Okay, when someone finds putting the cone onto the wire for a Norseman fitting not easy enough, that person should seriously consider calling a rigger for the job. The outer set of strands want to form around the cone because of their shape and I never had any groove interfering with this process (my cones don't have a groove!!??) The whole procedure is so simple that anyone can do it, there is no need for easier methods. The only thing that can go wrong is that the wire isn't far enough "sticking out" through the cone and this is no different with the Quick Attach fittings.

Another pro for the Norseman (probably same for Sta-Lok) fittings is that the same size terminal can be used for several diameters of wire with only a different cone. This greatly limits the number of different size fittings in use and thus the number of spares carried.

The Quick Attach fittings aren't available for every size wire so you might not even be able to get a fitting for every stay/shroud diameter used on your boat.

cheers,
Nick.

[cburger]

You are correct in that Norsman where the first mechanical fitting. To my thinking the idea with mechanical fittings is there are repairable at sea. I have attached the Practical Sailor tests of the various fittings including swaged type. My vessel is rigged with all Norseman fittings. The test shows that the Norseman consistantly failed before the the rated breaking strength, sometimes @ 65%, of the wire rating, (Scary). Some people have a different definition of "Easy", I dont find unlaying wire and trying to get it to conform evenly around a cone in order assemble the Norseman "Easy", (I've tried it).
Based on the Practical Sailor I have decided to replace the Norseman with the Suncor fittings. Currently have installed 5 of them. The fit and finish is beautiful and can make up a new assembly in under 5 minutes. If the test results for Suncor are correct the wire always failed before the fitting.


Good Old Boat, Quick Attach, Sta-Lok, Norseman, swasless fittings