Whipping, and the Life Lines

[Clyde A. Phillips]

 

This has been drawn for Eddie, but the rest of you are most welcomed to study it and practice it a few times.  I noticed on some pictures of Eddie's Newporter that the life lines were run differently than the way I used to do it.  His are not wrong; I'm lazy and his boat required twice the work than my way.  Study the "picture" above and see if it makes since to you.  All questions will be accepted, read, and hopefully answered. 

NOTE: I forgot something so here it is:  When running the life lines from the pulpit to the taff rail they go outboard of the main lower shrouds and INBOARD of the main upper shroud.  Therefore the sail thimble is lashed inside of the shroud.

 

[Clyde A. Phillips]

Updated:

Brent and Leslie,   There is a "groove" of sorts.  How the manufacturer shapes a sail thimble is a mystery to me, but the thimble is a U shaped piece shaped to an endless circle.  Since the thimble in this use will most likely be whipped to the lower swage fitting of the shroud it may need the U section that sits on the swage fitting spread a bit.  Just keep it at the height above the cap rail the life line stanchions are, or at the height that will put a fair sweep in the life lines from the pulpit aft to the last stanchion.  The "'groove" is needed because in the whipping process the marline should be wrapped around the perimeter (in the U) of the thimble, therefore a ring will not work unless you do an overlapping whipping (start the whipping above the ring to lock in the end of the marline, whip on the ring down the ring then back up and down again then whip around the swage fitting to lock in the lower marline end).

The life line should be tight when finished so it will begin its work (of saving a life) as soon as someone leans against it.  If the life line is sagging the “in danger” person must lean outboard until it tightens up.  It may not be able to keep the person on board if it is loose.

A "sad" note: These where called sail thimbles when I was a rigger, but in many, if not most, of the boat hardware catalogs I've recently looked at they are no longer sail thimbles.  I think that's because those who sell are more interested in money and have no experience on boats or any knowledge of maritime lingo.  I just received the latest catalog from Sailrite (a supply company for sailmakers and canvas workers and I recommend it highly) and “Thimbles” are listed in its index that leads you to all their thimbles, including sail thimbles.  At least they know what things are.

[brent and leslie bandi]

Thanks for posting this. I'm researching how to replace my saggy lifelines and this is really helpful. Is the sail thimble simply a ring or is there a groove along the outside edge that some of the marline wraps around (looks a little like that in the drawing)?