Tying off rigging

[David Enghauser]

I am installing the rigging on an old Shamrock kit. How do you keep tension on one end of the line while tying it off? I have used a half hitch on one side, threaded the line through the appropriate places on the mast, but am having difficulty keeping tension on the line while typing it off on the other side.

 

Thanks for your help.

[allanyed]

HI David,

 

Can you post a photo or tell us the specific lines?   I know of lines such as lifts and halyards that pass through a mast, going over a sheave, rather than going through a block, but am having trouble thinking of any line that goes through a hole in a mast to be belayed on the opposite side.    

Allan

[mtaylor]

One can buy small alligator clips to help taunt the line.  However, some have "teeth" that will damage the line so look for ones with no teeth.  There's also small paper claps that will work also.

[Louie da fly]

I use miniature clothes-pegs, available from craft/stationery stores. They work well, and don't have teeth. I've managed to buy them both in wood and in plastic, and I've trimmed off  the business end of several of them to have a right angle at the point of contact with the rope (but not the ones in the picture! ).

 

 

Steven

[wefalck]

Hairdresser's clips that they use to keep strands of hair out of the way, while working on others.

 

Forgot what they are called exactly now, but there are small probes with a retractable, sprung hook at the end that are used in electronics to test circuits. They come in packs of 10 and cost only a couple of €/£/$:

Random picture from Amazon.

 

I always leave the ropes a bit longer, so that I can cut the end, that invariably will fray due to the manipulations.