When to stick a thimble in the eye?
Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2018 11:22 pm
I've never been entirely certain what principles to apply for adding a thimble when setting up an eye for attaching a rope to a shackle or other fitting. I've usually replicated the setup that the PO used without ever being clear what dictated the choices. Since fittings like bails and shackles can be made either of metal stampings (with more-or-less rectangular cross-sections) or of forgings and castings with relatively rounded cross-sections, I would have guessed that a flat strap is much more likely to chafe the eye of the rope than would a rounded alternative, leading to use of thimbles where flat straps are involved and less often where they are not. On my boat, however, this principle seems to have been largely irrelevant to the actual rigging practice. I suppose that different owners made alterations to the rigging each by their own lights and that I shouldn't expect much consistency, but I'm currently renewing the aging rigging and I'd like to get it right from the start. Can anyone refer me to a more definitive principle for using thimbles than doing what the last guy did?
Thanks,
Ken
Thanks,
Ken