Deadeyes Vs. Lashings

Rev. 1-18-2025

I recently got a new metal lathe. My last metal lathe crashed about 20 years ago and I;ve been bodging by with a wood lathe and drill press tricks. I have a few small projects in mind, and in addition to those, deadeyes caught my eye. Not the lignum verta sort of square riggers, but something small for Dyneema.

 

 

 

 

 

A halyard applied the tension and a single leg was tied off above the top block.

 

Aluminum should be the trick, or even Nylon for light load applications.

or what about Low friction rings or even big thimbles? Even high-end boats use these.

 

 

A turnbuckle on the Lagoon, vs. the thimble lashing on an Outremer 51.

But what I can't get my arms around, if Outremer and other high-end makers are OK with lashings, is what is the advantage of bespoke deadeyes? My gut is that they are a little easier to tension, but is that even true, if the lines all run the same way? Some mini-deadeyes would be cool and trick, but is there no point?

Some years ago I tested lashing efficiency for PS, comparing Colligo eyes with LFRs.  I couldn't measure enough difference to publish.

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So I made some up on the lathe to investigate the strength of materials. HDPE is about as weak as you can get. I basically copied the Colligo dimensions and pull tested them first to 2200 pounds and then to failure at nearly 5000 pounds (the HDPE began to creep--no dramatic failure).

 

Easy enough to make on a lathe, but you will need a jig to hold them on an arbor using the deadeye holes. I can see why Colligo went with the teardrop shape; it reduces rotation when tightening the lashing.  Not a problem with a little more care, or if I had made the eye a little tighter (it was just a test stub of line with a preexisting eye, not one made up for this test).

 

If made from nylon they would be stronger than the Dyneema line. If I wanted to go from lashing to pin, without the encircling Dyneema eye, then aluminum would be required for the pin stress.

 

I may make some for some rigging mods down the line. Although I am sure nylon would work, I'll probably use 1/2-inch aluminum plate.  A little slower to turn, but not bad and permanent.