Mast wires

[John Stone]

I don’t use a turn-buckle. I spliced an eye in one end and cow-hitched it around the termination point. Then, I spliced another eye around a thimble in the opposite end. I made it so I can remove the thimble by wiggling it out of the eye. I use light lashing line to lash the thimble end to an eye bolt in the aft stanchion. That way it is removable. I’ll see if I have a picture.

[John Stone]

Attached is a picture of the thimble and termination lashing. Had to enlarge it so it may be grainy. Photographed last winter with snow on the boat. But, it depicts how the aft end is terminated. Again, forward end is cow hitched and aft end has the thimble.

Since we don’t have gates, we can untie the lashing, when necessary, and lower the lifeline for loading or unloading supplies into the dinghy or across the dock.

Samson makes a small Dyneema lashing line that a lot of sailors use for this application. I got the idea from Evans Starzinger, a very experience high latitude sailor.