Fid-less

We paid ZTC another visit yesterday, this time to tidy up a few loose ends, and have her rig checked over by Richard from Turbulence. While Richard was with us, I asked him about replacing the wire stay that had snapped on Frost’s wind generator support. Instead of using what was there before, a piece of 4mm wire, swaged fittings, and a small turnbuckle, he suggested that using some Dyneema line would be a better solution. And cheaper too!

Later in the day, I picked up some Dyneema from their shop, and after returning to the boat, tried to splice an eye in one end. After reviewing the video that I recorded some time ago, I was pretty clear on the procedure. The challenge was that the Selma fids that I used to have are no longer in my possession (they, along with several other items of ours, were left on the Leopard by mistake, and then never returned to us). I loved those fids! 🙁

Given that the line I was splicing was so small (4mm), creating a modified fid was quite a challenge. I tried using a large needle, a piece of threaded rod, and an artist’s paint brush. If only I had some knitting needles, they would have been perfect!

Anyway, even without the proper tools, I was able to get the job done, and with a minimum of cursing. After installing the new guy-line, and tightening it using a trucker’s hitch, I’m confident the wind generator will be just as secure as it was before, if not more so.