harrygee 73 Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 I want to replace my 1/4" standing rigging and I prefer to do the job myself. I can get Stalok fittings for everything else and I'm familiar with Staloks but the existing caps and lowers have Gibb tee-ball termination at the top and Stalok don't have a drop-in replacement. I could do away with the tee-ball arrangement and make regular tangs but it would be heavier, more wind-resistant and not as pretty. Does anyone know of similar compression fittings that would fit the Gibb sockets, in 1/4", not metric 6mm. The Gibb sockets have a 15mm+- slot. Thanks. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mgs 211 Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 Had almost a similar issue trying to get new Norseman ts…wanted to re-use the existing Norseman parts but with the age of the rig it was time to replace the ts… We were able to get new ones made by a company in the states, not sure that would help you. Hi-mod doesn’t have ‘em, but Bluewave out of Denmark does. Not sure if it’s a direct swap though. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Zonker 5,239 Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 Rigger makes up swaged T fittings on the top, you add Sta-lok on the bottom?? 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
harrygee 73 Posted January 8 Author Share Posted January 8 Thanks for the quick replies. I've been thinking about that solution Zonker; it would mean I could do 90+% of the job myself. I'll see if I can source Gibb T-Balls. Cheers Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mgs 211 Posted January 9 Share Posted January 9 On 1/8/2022 at 12:11 AM, harrygee said: Thanks for the quick replies. I've been thinking about that solution Zonker; it would mean I could do 90+% of the job myself. I'll see if I can source Gibb T-Balls. Cheers If you’re going to try and find actual gibb fittings you might as well find the Norseman t-fittings and go back to your original plan. there are other swage ts that are compatible with gibb 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
harrygee 73 Posted January 10 Author Share Posted January 10 Thanks for that. I'll look at them. Without holding one fitting against another, I'll need to convince myself that they're compatible. No hurry, my mast is unlikely to come down in the next week. If I was standing on deck, I wouldn't tempt fate that way! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Frogman56 122 Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 Down here in OZ, insurers are no longer covering spars using tballs. A bunch of failures, mostly associated with wide staying angles - iirc, the tballs were optimised around ~ 16 degrees, and larger angles typical of gunwale mounted chain plates (generally 18 - 24 degrees) engender bending loads and fatigue cracking. So we are all scurrying around cooking up soft termination methods... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
solosailor 610 Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 Quote So we are all scurrying around cooking up soft termination methods... Hit up John @ Colligo. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Zonker 5,239 Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 It is important to lash the shroud rope around the front of the mast and spreaders only and not to block the mainsail track OK, this was a temporary fix for a broken shroud, somewhere between Cape Blanco and Coos Bay. Worked very well Tensioning the lower end, back to a winch. This was done at 3 am (of course) so don't criticize the ropework. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
European Bloke 861 Posted January 11 Share Posted January 11 There's nothing like going up a rig when you know that the rigging is already failing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Zonker 5,239 Posted January 11 Share Posted January 11 The rig was very bouncy at the time. Big seas in the area too made it not fun. The actual wire didn't fail - just pulled out of the swage. Couldn't figure it out at 3 am because all the wires were intact. Just the lowers were amazingly slack. That jury rigged wire made it from Coos Bay to San Fran, but we motored or sailed really gently for those miles. We replaced the 2 x 1/4" lowers with a -8 rod of somewhat higher strength because the rigger said it was more fatigue resistant. That same starboard one busted between Tonga and Fiji, under spinnaker in quite light conditions. So not overload failure. Big bang and it fell on the deck right in front of me. We replaced the damn things with dyneema in Fiji and sailed the rest of the world with no issues. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
harrygee 73 Posted January 11 Author Share Posted January 11 Nature reserves the right to drop that stuff on us at 3 a.m. At 2 a.m., west of the Solomons in a 40knot blow that was about to rate a name, I put my third reef in and, shortly after, my top spreader tore away from the mast (because the halyard had flicked around it in the dark) and the spreader spun around the stay, beating everything it could reach. The situation was complicated by my estimated position (plastic sextant days), where my chart said "shoal reported 1955". I had to climb up and secure the top spreader to the lower spreader, then beat to the Solomons for a week. Nature has a sense of humour. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trovão 624 Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 On 1/11/2022 at 8:37 PM, harrygee said: Nature reserves the right to drop that stuff on us at 3 a.m. At 2 a.m., west of the Solomons in a 40knot blow that was about to rate a name, I put my third reef in and, shortly after, my top spreader tore away from the mast (because the halyard had flicked around it in the dark) and the spreader spun around the stay, beating everything it could reach. The situation was complicated by my estimated position (plastic sextant days), where my chart said "shoal reported 1955". I had to climb up and secure the top spreader to the lower spreader, then beat to the Solomons for a week. Nature has a sense of humour. It uses to have when you defy it... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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