This was a suggestion from Boatfolk Penarth rigger Andy Freemantle. During the mast re-step he added a temporary rope strop under the backstay tensioner and shortened the third cascade (with a knot). He also suggested using a thinner line in the tensioner.
This has three benefits: it lifts the lower tensioner block off the gelcoat, separates the tensioner lines slightly, and alters all the line angles. This makes the tensioner run more freely.
The old configuration – showing the lower tensioner block rubbing the gelcoat, and the tail of the third cascade running close to the tensioner lines.
We needed to replace the Dyneema for the third cascade, and create a new Dyneema strop for below the tensioner.
So I had to learn how to make locking eye splices in the new 8mm Marlow D12 Dyneema. This turned out to be quite straight forward – thanks to the Marlow video.
The new tensioner line is 8mm (replaces 10mm). The strop has to be doubled – it runs from the deck U-bolt (and shackle) to the lower tensioner block and back again. This is because the strop length (45cm) is only a little greater than the minimum splice length (40cm) – so there is no way to fit two eye splices in a single line strop.
