Page 222 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

Figure 6-38. A finished Liverpool Eyesplice. a more efficient splice, a knot more nearly as strong
as the wire rope in which it is tied.
“Thrown away! Are you crazy!?” I’ve always thought that this was possible given
I know, I know. You’ve spent hours on your first proper technique and a fair level of skill. To prove
splice, cursed the wire, probably cursed the instruc- or disprove it, SAIL magazine arranged tests at the
tions; you’ve finally finished, and you’re not about Monson, Massachusetts, shop of Daniel O’Con-
to junk the thing. Well, keep it as a memento if you nor and Sons, Inc., using wire rope made by the
like; just don’t use it. Practice until you develop a MacWhyte and Carolina companies. O’Connor, a
consistent proficiency, and then take some samples third-generation rigger specializing in ski-lift equip-
to a testing machine and break them. It’s the only ment, is the proud owner of a 200,000-pound-ca-
way to prove your work. pacity hydraulic testing machine. In January 1983
we fed this device 17 sample wires with Eyesplice
Splice Strength terminals. Eleven of the samples were my idea of
Many sailors prefer Eyespliced wire rigging to rig- “proper” splices: smooth, with fair entries and
ging with mechanical terminals, even though a wide tapers (for the sake of experiment, different tapers
variety of the mechanical terminals is available. were used). Two of the samples were made, after
Why? Splices are flexible and resilient and thus long- about 40 hours of practice, by a student of mine.
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lived. They are also easy to maintain and inspect The wire used was ⁄8-inch diameter in 7 x 7, 7 x 19,
have no abrupt shoulders to snag other objects or and 1 x 19 constructions, both stainless and galva-
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jam in sheaves, and are cost-effective even if you nized, plus one ⁄16-inch 7 x 19 galvanized sample.
pay someone else to make them for you. Do-it-your- Although the number of pieces tested was small,
selfers spend nothing but time on their terminals. I believe that the consistency of the results puts well-
And if you plan a leisurely cruise across the Pacific, made splices in a league with any other terminal.
your rigging vise and ditty bag contents are all you The results, as shown in Table 7, averaged
need to be a self-sufficient rigger. 103.8 percent of the manufacturers’ rated strength
But despite these and other virtues, Eyesplices for the rope. None broke at below 100 percent; the
have always faced a major stumbling block: tensile highest mark was 118 percent. In case these num-
strength. Standard references* list splices as being bers seem impossible, understand that manufactur-
10 to 15 percent weaker in sailboat-size wire than ers rate their wire rope at a little less than ultimate
swages and fittings such as the Sta-Lok, Norseman, strength, by margins of a few percent to well over
Cast-Lok, and so on. For traditional vessels and 10 percent, depending on the brand. In terms of
some industrial applications, compensating for this ultimate strength, the average for the splices was
deficiency is simply a matter of using slightly over- 95 percent for the ⁄8-inch samples and 99 percent
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size wire, thus gaining ample strength along with for the best ⁄16-inch sample. The important thing is
the splice’s other virtues. But on most vessels today, that the splices were within a few percentage points
with weight and windage at a premium, this prac- of the very best mechanical terminals and better
tice is unacceptable. The only alternative is to make than most of them. Compare these results with
those obtained by the staff of Practical Sailor. In
Rossnagel’s Handbook of Rigging, page 61; MacWhyte their test, the results of which were presented in the
Catalog G-18, page 214; Broderick and Bascom’s Rigger’s
Handbook, page 163.
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