No Swages or Staylocks Needed

[clifflindsey]

Anybody see anything wrong with rigging my upper shrounds with lengths of chain to shackles to turnbuckles?

[Sailorman375]

Your kidding, right?

[tallyhorob]

Originally Posted by clifflindsey

Anybody see anything wrong with rigging my upper shrounds with lengths of chain to shackles to turnbuckles?

Nope, I can't see a thing wrong with that,

[clifflindsey]

Very serious.

[s/v 'Faith']

The weight aloft will be a significant issue.

If you use chain that would approach your working load limit needed, you will have a lot of weight up high... it would be a real problem.

I HAVE seen people use chain for the dolphin striker, and that was not (IMHO) a bad place to substitute chain for wire.... but you would do well to skip it elsewhere.

[clifflindsey]

Originally Posted by s/v 'Faith'

The weight aloft will be a significant issue.

If you use chain that would approach your working load limit needed, you will have a lot of weight up high... it would be a real problem.

I HAVE seen people use chain for the dolphin striker, and that was not (IMHO) a bad place to substitute chain for wire.... but you would do well to skip it elsewhere.

This is on a trimaran with a beam of around 23 foot. The upper shrouds will attatch outside the amas on that greatest beam. That should positively effect the weight aloft ratio right?

What size chain would you subsitute 1/2 or maybe 5/8 cable for? Im not thinkin there would be significant weight change...

[atoll]

ugly! why not use galvanised wire?

[Steve Pope]

Its often been done at the lower end, generally by folk who havn't a lot of dough. usually they would be using galvanised wire as well, just as strong as SS just needs more TLC, (soaking in boiled linseed oil once or twice a year) have seen some over 30 years old that has been looked after, appeared as good as new, couldn't say that for SS. wouldn't use chain up high if you can avoid it though.

[Efraim]

My first question would be: why? If it's money, an excellent cheap alternative to modern SS jewellery, is galvanised wired terminated with spelter sockets, secured either with pored zinc or epoxy.
Something like this:

[S/V Alchemy]

Originally Posted by clifflindsey

Anybody see anything wrong with rigging my upper shrounds with lengths of chain to shackles to turnbuckles?

I wish I had time to make a list, my friend.

[clifflindsey]

Originally Posted by atoll

ugly! why not use galvanised wire?

Not ugly! Its an interdimensional modern day gypsy viking long tri. Its just.... Raw

Im going to seaech for galvy wire, I suppose that makes more sense... As long as theres no core and I can crimp or tug splice oit.

[Cotemar]

Why not us Amsteel braided rope. On a tri its all about light weight

[Butler]

Galvi wire looped around thimbles and put together with 3 bulldog clamps. Works fine. (look at Moitessier "The Long Way" for putting this together... worked for him for thousands of miles) W/o some sort of covers those clamps etc. will be snagging the sheets all the time) The installation is not as clean but just as secure as swaging and the added bonus of being able to see it letting go before it does.
Not all stainless is created equal such is the case with galvi so shop around. The english are still making the best supposedly and I used to know the best makers but not anymore As has been stated will need annual dressing...old school was a mix of pitch and lindseed oil. Staining the sails is a a problem for some. The old baggy wrinkle wasn't just about chafe...
BTW. I always carry 6' lengths of chain, thimbles and bulldogs in case of rigging failures that might occur where I can reach.

[tager]

Butler, I might do that on my boat just to piss people off! I already did the 7x7 liverpool splice galvy rig for a 24', but I didn't like it that much.

[Valkyrie654]

Dynex dux, rather than Amsteel, along with a good strong thimble and you are about as light as you can get. Easy to do splices and you are set. On the other hand, you can go old school with A good galvanized wire and it will out last the best. Galvanized wire does not have the work hardining issues that stainless has. If you parcel, then serve it, and slush it down, it will last just about forever. It is very time consuming to do this properly, but will work and look great on a traditional vessel. it will require annual maintenance however.

All chain shrouds or stays will be very heavy. It doesn't matter if your stability comes from lead ballest or a very wide beam, excessive weight aloft will decrease stability.