[Reefpoints]

Hi all,

I did my first sta-lok fitting yesterday and wasn't 100% sure I did it right. After I tightened it, I loosened it to inspect the form of the wire before I put in the dab of life-caulk. It appears that when I tightened it, the wire twisted a bit and a strand or so is over the slot. I don't believe any strands are IN the slot, just partially over it. Please see the photo I took:

For those with experience installing mechanical fittings, is this acceptable or do I need to redo this fitting?

As always I appreciate the advice/guidance!

 

[Reefpoints]

You can just see the slot - the dark area where the strands exit the threaded portion.

 

[Ajax_MD]

Ok, I'll take a stab at it.

I'm also re-rigging my boat right now, using Hayn Hi-Mod and Norseman fittings.
The Norseman fittings are closer to Sta-Lok than the Hi-Mod fittings.

Yes, I can see that no strands are jammed into the slot on the wedge/cone. That's good.

It *appears* that you have the proper amount of core protruding from the cone, and that the outter strands are properly formed around the top of the cone in the same way that Norseman indicates in their instructions.

The only deviation that I see, is that the outer strands aren't quite perfectly equally spaced around the cone, which *might* lead to uneven loading on the outer strands. Just take a screwdriver and attempt to space them out evenly, and put it back together.

Now read my disclaimer:

I have not yet finished installing my rigging with these compression fittings. I have not sailed my boat with them yet. I am not a rigging expert, and my advice is strictly my opinion and my interpretation of the manufacturers' instructions.

I feel that the Hi-Mod fittings were better, and easier to be certain that your installation is correct. Norseman and Sta-Lok are good, but a bit more fiddly.
I'm in Maryland also, for what it's worth. If you wanted to compare notes or something.

 

[christian.hess]

I can see the slot just fine and I dont see a strand in it...

thats important so when it compresses it does it corectly

the onlt thing I would do is space out the strands so they are all even around the fitting...you can see a gap where the slot is on the outside lay

the sta lok is pretty similar to norsmen I see...are you suppsoed to have the inner core extended like that?

I have some pics of norsemans I just did if iut helps

I have a stalok on my forestay and it has 4 threads exposed and when consulting on here and elsewhere it appears this is ok

on norsemans 1-2 threads is max or it means you wound the wires a bit too long than the 1.5 recomended and bottomed out too soon.

cheers

 

[christian.hess]

this is my finished norseman per instructions...you can see the threads still left and sealant as well as loctite to prevent galling and or losening

 

[Reefpoints]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts!

Ok, I'll take a stab at it.

I'm also re-rigging my boat right now, using Hayn Hi-Mod and Norseman fittings.
The Norseman fittings are closer to Sta-Lok than the Hi-Mod fittings.

Yes, I can see that no strands are jammed into the slot on the wedge/cone. That's good.

It *appears* that you have the proper amount of core protruding from the cone, and that the outter strands are properly formed around the top of the cone in the same way that Norseman indicates in their instructions.

The only deviation that I see, is that the outer strands aren't quite perfectly equally spaced around the cone, which *might* lead to uneven loading on the outer strands. Just take a screwdriver and attempt to space them out evenly, and put it back together.
.

Bubblehead,

Yes, the spacing isn't perfect. I had a little bit of a gap on either side of the slot. Then when I compressed it, the strands spiraled a bit like you can see in the photo so that the minor gap (intended to go around the slot) is now rotated over the cone.

While not perfect, I think it is good enough (and since I did already seal it up with life-caulk and blue-loctite) I think I am just going to leave it as is.

(If it turned out this was a dangerously poor situation I would've removed it and re-formed it..)

Actually, I would've prefered one of the other brands like Hayn, but I went with what was available at the store that fabricated this new forestay for me.

Christian, yes - the sta-loks do require a small protrusion of the inner core. Thanks for the photo!

 

[msmith10]

The nice thing about the Hayn fittings is that the cone has a little slot for each strand, so it's hard to screw up. I haven't used norsemaen, but Norseman fittings are well-proven.

 

[Ajax_MD]

I think you'll be fine. I hope we both will be!

 

[billyruffn]

You might find this video helpful.

That's part one of two. You can find the second part here.

 

[christian.hess]

that is a good video...he does everything per norseman navtec instructions which is important to emphasize here.

my only input is he doesnt use as much sealant as I did...I actually put sealant in the terminal before fitting the second time...this pushes and squeezes sealant up into the wires and grooves and practically seals the entry point more than say just doing the bottom part
remember wtare trickles down...

but all in all a great how to vid

I should add there are many "bad" vids out there on how to assemble terminals...there was one...a euro vid which showed a guy hammering down on the terminal to get tyhe correct "tightness" of the two sides...

meaning he didnt corrrectly measure the cone to wire length distance...

anywhoo

next time around Ill try hayn if I need to but since norsemans were on almost all my wires I didn feel the need to change that...



cheers