I've decided to join the dark side and put a kite on the boat. I have got a second hand chute off Brett Kelly and a new bag from Lindsey Irwin. What is the best way to secure the the bag to the chute?

Alan 1682

Depending on the chute you have just some large flat headed rivets do the trick. Make sure you can fit your rivet gun in there before you drill any holes in the chute, and poke a hot soldering iron through the chute holes and bag when in position. Put about 6 rivets around the back edge of the chute so the smooth chute mouth does most of the rubbing on the sail.
I always put washers on the back of the aluminum rivets so the washer jams the bag not just a distorted rivet. Then very carefully file smooth the heads of the rivets otherwise any small burr will wreck your sail in large winds.
Luke

Thanks Luke, mission complete. Love the soldering iron trick.
Alan 1682

I now do carbon mouths at same price

No worries Alan.

Another things that wrecks your spinnaker really quickly is any scrags of wire on your fore stay eyelet swage.
When they swage it, they intentionally leave it poking out about 1-2mm of the copper swage so you can see if the swage is failing, but when the spinnaker gets wrapped around it it chew 5cm splits into the sail. A bit of PVC or electrical tape does the trick.

Luke

Mission complete, it goes up and it comes down, just need some wind and water to see if it works. Thanks for the tip on the swages Luke, no one to blame for the loose ends but me as I made them.Looking forward to the long weekend to see if I can get any where near Dave and Brett.

Alan 1682

I never leave swages with nasty sharp wires sticking out of them. It hurts like hell when you pprick your thumb on them, not to mention ripping sails or chaffing sheets. If a swage is done properly it will never let go; the most common mode of failure is where the strands of the wire break off adjacent to the swage. Protruding wires from a swage serve no useful purpose.

When I do swaging at home I either make sure the short end is inside the swage so there are no protruding wires, or if that is not practical and there are protruding wires after swaging, I cut them off with an angle grinder.

That requires a good eye and a steady hand, because if you accidentally nick the wire on the other side, you have to start again. The trick is to cut almost, but not quite through the last strands, then they will easily break off. I have done it dozens of times and have only nicked a wire once.

Hi Greg, might have to get the glasses out for that one.

Alan 1682

From a riggers point of view, when doing a Ferral and thimble copper swage before swagging the wire must be the diameter of the wire sticking out at the end and when swagged there should be some unswagged wire sticking out the bottom. Why you may ask..... the unswagged wire is not compressed and will not slip through the copper if it happens to slip. When swagged by a Hand swagger have a habbit to slip under tention. On our "toy boats" we never meet the breaking strain of the wire. Wire breaks due to fatigue.

Its a pain with it sticking out but you can put heat shrink, or self evolving tape around the swage.

Matt

Thanks to Matt for the expert advice.

I have made dies to suit the various swage sizes, and I put them in a vice to crimp the swages. The dies are not as long as the swages, so the end parts of the swages don't get compressed. That means there is still a short length of wire inside the swages which is not compressed.

I'm with Matt and would be a bit cautious removing the tail.

When they swage larger diameter wires (I'm talking 30mm here), There is always a tail out of the swage so you know if it is starting to fail as the wire slides into the swage. The idea of swaging is not just the friction and compression of the swage but the collar like effect the swage has with the blockage of the tail.

Some swages even drive a wedge into the end of the tail to increase this effect (think of an axe handle). I compare it like pulling a nail out of a board vs pulling a rivet out.

The loads on these wires are pretty small, but they can experience large shock loads at times in collisions and capsizes. The effects if a wire goes are pretty catastrophic also. Makes me think I should check my wires next time home.....

Regards,
Luke

Gotta love this forum, picking everyones brains. Like the heat shrink idea, I use one with glue inside on the auto elec work I do, I think that will be just the ticket.
Thanks to all.

Alan 1682

The heat shrink I use on electrical work came from Jaycar and is quite thin. Is there thicker, heavier stuff available?

Hi Greg,
I get one up here from an auto elec supplier which is twice as thick as the standard one and it also has glue in side which goes off when you heat it. I will get your number off Brett and post a some down to you.

Regards Alan 1682

Thanks Alan that sounds great, I look forward to trying it out.

I will PM you with my address.

Regards,
Greg.