Converting from Tball thingos to Tangs

[El Pinguino]

A bit of background..
Shortly after buying this boat 21 years ago I lost the mast when the port lower Tball fractured within the mast in quite light conditions. The rig was 8 years old at the time.

Two years ago when on passage from Tonga to NZ the starboard lower staple fractured within the deck. It was 4 years old... all staples having been replaced in BA in 2010. We were very lucky not to lose the mast.

All staples replaced with larger ( 16mm diameter ) ones in NZ.

On arrival back in Chile earlier this year the stbd lower was found to have two broken strands where the wire exits the swaged fitting. Wire was three years old.

So... the decision was made to get rid of the Tballs and fit tangs.

The kit was bought from The Rig Shop in Southampton for about UKP750.
The compression fittings and extenders ( which let us use the 3 yo wire ) were part of the kit and were from these people Marine Products - Petersen Stainless Rigging Limited All the bits except the compression piece are shown in the first pic.
Conversion was quite simple. Backing plates removed from the mast and the compression piece - a substanial piece of alloy with a hole through the middle to take the bolt - fitted. Bolt inserted with the tangs and two 'keeper plates' attached. Four blind rivets in each of the keeper plates, new compression fittings on the ends of the two lowers.... job done.

[UNCIVILIZED]

You may wish to add toggles to these, as they're not free to flex on both axis according to the pics, which could lead to problems.