What was the inside diameter of the ferrul? Was thinking 15mm would be about right

14mm. Seems about right. We're going to try a 12.7mm this weekend, probably work OK, we'll see. The big downside is the stopper slams into the ferrul and adds friction to the setup. It still works fine, but maybe not for teams that adjust a lot (the pros adjust every time they tack). That is why we generally see double blocks and why I wanted to try 2 shock blocks tied together. I may still give that a go but it's a fair amount of splicing vs. 1 single ferrul.

with 3 weeks until the start of our summer season I've got to pull finger and finish making my new trap wires. The Capricorn 2 I sailed on a couple of times last season had this system standard (owner has since swapped it for fully adjustable) but I really liked it and will probably do similar on my new traps.

What I'm planning to do is splice both both the main trap wire and short lower length around the outside of a round ferral which will let the shock cord run free through the middle and then do an adjustable splice at the bottom end.

Tried that awhile back during a Worrell, with just a ring instead of the can't miss( seen 2 of those part). The problem I had was the slack line loop was easy to grab or snag on stuff by mistake. I took it off after one leg and went back to the standard adjustable set-up. YMV.

The reason I like it is I'm only 5'6" so I have short arms. Having short arms and trapping low with the normal system (which I currently have) means there isn't enough space between the handle (and block/ferral below it) and the tramp to fully retract the dogbone right up and tighten the wire. As a result the dogbone is left swinging in the wind meaning you have to stop what you're doing and watch it as you grab for it.

Hmm that's an interesting problem for shorter folks, my helm is 5' 4". Part of the reasons we're going to the adjustable setup so the handle can be placed at the right spot for her, and she can trap lower on the wire. Having it swinging around on the tramp is no good. We'll have to try it when we get the boat re-rigged.

-Sam

I build my traps from the deck up. So the lower line is set so the handle is exactly where my arm reaches when "semi sitting" on trap (as against fully laying out). The the main trap wire is adjusted in length to get the ring about 4" below the deck.

Got an e-blast from Goodall design and thought one of the items within was worth resurrecting this old thread. Seems they were either reading our forum or were thinking on the same lines. Their new "stock" adjustable trap will use a ferrule in place of the double-block. Looks like a fairly simple spring project to me.



Goodall design page link here.

That's pretty cool. Thanks for sharing that...I'm planning to revamp our trap lines soon and that looks pretty good.

Under load, the blue stopper will be pressed onto the ferrule. Will this not making the control line at least difficult if not impossible to adjust? You understand what I mean?

That's for the bungee to attach to.

I can see that...but, honestly, you are going to have a heck of time doing anything with that V-jam cleat with your weight pulling on it anyway. I usually have to pull my weight on the handle to do anything with the cleat...so that would free up the ferrule.

You can usually pull yourself up (ie pull the adjustment line towards you .... but to let yourself down requires you to "unload" the trapeze briefly to uncleat.

i see what you mean, defeats the purpose of being adjustable under load, but what if instead of passing through the ferrule the rope was spliced around it, and a shock cord passed though the centre and down onto the ring.

What's wrong with the Tornado-style adjustable trapeze?
Why fix what isn't broken?

I cannot say from personal experience, but weight, reliability, and cost have all been mentioned in previous discussions.

Just checked and Marstrom has them for 371KR=~$57USD each, not including shipping (link here).

I'm weighing my options.

OOOF

We have some new small stainless ones available. Will get a pick posted later.