Would love to show a picture
Yes, I have taken hundreds of pictures and all rigging has been labeled. The last person to rig this boat was the head rigger of the Star of India. back in the early 80's. He did all splices in 1x19 as the plans for the boat requested.
He also parceled them, then wrapped them in canvas, then painted them white. Now, I am not sure if this is what he found on the rig with respect to the serve on the eyes. You see the boat had varnished sticks. When I got her she was full of white lead paint and many imperfections on her mast. The original owner did not even winterize her - rather he took her to Cuba every winter from New York. ( but for the years they would not allow him to leave due to the War.) Ii have every piece of old rigging, it appears that if anything the rigging got more and more paint over the years.
The boat now has varnished masts. (I have some wonderful dedicated people working on her.) I am not that fond of the 7 x 19 as it can get rough and barb-ish, yet that is what most rigggers want to use. Also remember that this needs to be covered. My thoughts were to avoid having to cover stainless. Each eye splice must be replicated with respect to the diameter and the circumference, the throat and the drop of the eye splice. Everything was removed from the mast, new bungs show where the lignum vitae cheeks rested. I also measured and place a tape measure along side them as I took pictures.
The thought on the Dux was sound but you see the some of the Dux would not work as I have blocks mid way up the masts and the triatic etc. I want to keep the old blocks as they are fine. Dux also requires such a long bury for my need that I would have at least 8-9 ft of Dux before I could attach wire rigging.
This insulated PBO cable uses very fine marine eyes as terminals rather than the large thimbles used in Dynex Dux so attaching to current hardware is supposed to be easier, and the company states that standing rigging is guaranteed for 4 years. Some of the current soft eye splices on the masts ended in similar terminals and then go to wire rope. I don't want to use more cable than needed for just the eyes and the terminals to connect to wire. With so many lines (truly 24 on the main mast alone) I can't imagine there would be tremendous load issues. The sails are not huge but there are more then I am familiar in my own sailing. The boat was called an auxiliary cruiser.
I would love to be able to post some pictures.
Basically I need the same diameter as the wire so that they fit under the sail track and between the stand offs, it needs to be as strong or stronger, and I prefer that it not rust. I will still parcel and serve.
I figured that the weight difference would not be an issue as an additional terminal would balance the decrease in weight due to the cord.
All eyes are drop over, but to make things a bit more challenging they often stack upon each other as well as stack upon cheeks. I will have to work closely with a rigger to mark where I will lash the throat of the splice and to make sure they drop where they need be.
We have all been working every day and late into the night since July 3rd. I tore out 4 ligaments and had wrist surgery. Truly, there has been much thought along the way. This was a huge undertaking but I am very committed to this project. I have boxes of research for everything that has been done to the boat. I actually bought the last quart of white lead paste in the US at one point. (the "crop" has matured and now there should be more!)
Each stage of restoration has been logged and documented with pictures. I feel very good about the way things have gone, the only wood which will be replaced is the cap rail. The wood for that was purchased early last summer.
This has been such an undertaking that the rig was one of those "when we can finally get to it... we will deal" type of things, yet here I am, and if it takes time to order or find what I need then now is the time to approach it.... I am still doing research.
I so appreciate input, while I want to keep with the traditional rig I too understand that if I can keep the "architecture" of the rig plans as near its intent then using a different material ie: insulation and then leather around a core, rather than twine, tar, canvas and thick paint around wire, I might be better able to preserve the masts. (three coats of epoxy and 10 coats of varnish).
Love to hear input,
April
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