on 10/21/02 8:59 AM, Rob Atkinson, K5UJ at k5uj@hotmail.com wrote:
> I have a vertical guyed with dacron. At both ends of each guy I've got 3 or
> 4 small clips and thimbles (in other words, I didn't just tie knots and
> leave it at that). The anchors are 4' ground screws with 3" helixes in line
> with the guys. I find that about every 6 months I have to put tension back
> into the guys. Is this because the dacron stretches--is it supposed to
> stretch that much? I'm using 3/16" rope & wonder if this is normal with
> this stuff--I've heard that it stretches but I figured eventually it would
> quit doing that. Just wondered if there's a possibility of a problem
> somewhere else like it is slipping through the U clips (however I've
> tightened them as much as I can). Tnx,
Hey Rob,
Dacron does stretch quite a bit. I would think it would eventually stop,
but it might not until failure occurs. I know on some of the sail boats
I've raced on that dacron sails tend to stretch out of shape pretty quickly.
It's one reason why the top racers uses kevlar sails instead. It stretches
too but not as much or as fast.
Bottom line is that any fiber under tension and forces of nature will
stretch and likely continue to do so. I would suspect that even EHS guys
need to be retensioned and checked every so often.
73,
Jon
NA9D
-------------------------------------
Jon Ogden
NA9D (ex: KE9NA)
Life Member: ARRL, NRA
Member: AMSAT, DXCC
http://www.qsl.net/ke9na
"A life lived in fear is a life half lived."
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