Best Stay Pendant

bwindrope · #1 (**permalink**) 07-29-2009

Hi all,
I'm opening up my problem to this great community in hopes of gathering some ideas. I'm installing a solent stay on my Gulf 32 and to make a long, long story short, I need a stay pendant from the double padeye to the Johnson turnbuckle fitting. The pendant needs to be about 6-10" long and the stay wire will be 7/32.

To get the stay out of the anchor locker and above the coaming enough to operate the Johnson turnbuckle fitting this pendant is required.

The question is this: I'd love to use HM rope on this but can't splice loops into a pendant that short, I don't think. I've checked the literature and it seems the eye splices in this 12 strand require longer tails than my length would allow. HM doesn't like knots either, so that is not a great option, unless I oversize the stuff so much that a 50% reduction in strength is OK.

I could use a wire pendant made up with fancy Hi-Mod fittings but what a wad of money for such a short thing. The end fittings will be $$$. Plus, it will sit on the padeye in an anchor locker and boy that would be good for it.

For these reasons I would really like to find a rope solution. I could replace it annually for little expense, and not worry about corrosion. The question is how do I make the connection with rope?

Thanks in advance...

bwindrope · #2 (**permalink**) 07-30-2009

I just checked and the stay pendant can be no longer than 7 inches. Any knowledgeable HM rope people out there who can advise on creating such a short pendant?

JT1019 · #3 (**permalink**) 07-30-2009

I think you want to use a good line like AMSeteel from Samson. It’s much stronger than stainless and won’t stretch. Good low cost solution.

bwindrope · #4 (**permalink**) 07-30-2009

JT1019,
That's exactly what I'd like to do, but am trying to figure out how to make a pendant from it that is only 7 inches long. A splice seems to take more length than that, and knots weaken Amsteel a lot and the stuff is slippery.

That's the crux of my question.

mitiempo · #5 (**permalink**) 07-30-2009

A stainless wire with machine crimped eyes in either end is probably the least expensive long term solution and would be plenty strong enough. If you use 5/16 or 3/8 wire with the appropriate eyes and crimps I don't think rope can come close to its strength in a 7" long piece, either splicing (very short) or knotted in any way. This example on my neighbor's boat is used to raise the tack of the jib above the lifelines. It has withstood winching loads for over 20 years on a Spencer 35.
Brian

svHyLyte · #6 (**permalink**) 07-30-2009

Why not simply use a Dynema Loop doubled (see Annapolis Performance Sailing (APS) - Dynema Loops 8mm x 20cm, 4840 SWL (2) ). Doubled you'd be looking at a safe working load of nearly 10,000# which would be more than enough.

JT1019 · #7 (**permalink**) 07-30-2009

If you need a 7" stay I can make one out of some extras I have laying around and send it to you...no big deal. PM me your info and the exact size and I will make one this weekend and mail it to you.

bwindrope · #8 (**permalink**) 07-30-2009

Thanks for the tips. I agree that the wire option with crimped loops would be the cheapest and plenty strong. I also really like the idea of the dyneema loops. Don't know why I hadn't thought of doubling a loop back onto itself. If you did an end to end splice in Amsteel that would also work. So both of these are good suggestions. I have a question into Samson Ropes regarding this question and what they recommend doing with Amsteel and will post their answer if I get a good idea.

Thanks also for the offer of making one for me, but I think I'll stick with my own hands on this one just for the fun and satisfaction of it.

If there are any other clever ideas I still welcome them, but this has given me some good leads and I appreciate it.

bwindrope · #9 (**permalink**) 08-01-2009

I've reached a conclusion on this question and appreciate the helpful ideas presented here. I contacted the good folks at Samson Rope here in WA and learned that an end to end splice is easy to achieve with Amsteel and that it would allow me to form a loop, which could then be doubled over the way it was suggested here to give me the necessary length.

The purchased loop from Annapolis that was recommended would have worked but was very pricey, for some reason, and the raw materials for plenty of 1/4 inch Amsteel was like $6. When doubled, the 1/4 inch Amsteel will almost double the strength of the 1/4 wire it is supporting. I went this route rather than crimping wire for the pendant mainly due to storage and corrosion issues.

Anyway, that's that. Go here for the splicing instructions for end to end Amsteel Samson-The Strongest Name in Rope, Splicing Instructions

Happy days to you all...

MedSailor · #10 (**permalink**) 08-03-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by svHyLyte

Why not simply use a Dynema Loop doubled (see Annapolis Performance Sailing (APS) - Dynema Loops 8mm x 20cm, 4840 SWL (2) ). Doubled you'd be looking at a safe working load of nearly 10,000# which would be more than enough.

If you decide to go with the Dynmea loop doubled or tripled (which I think is a great idea) here is a much cheaper source:
BlueWater 13mm Titan Runners These are stronger than the 8mm runners, though you can get those from the site as well.

I can vouch for quality. I have literally trusted my life to these many times.

MedSailor