I have a ratchet crimper (not West Marine) and have tried it a few times. I was not impressed. I suppose if I used the proper size wire in the proper size fitting every time it might be wonderful. But it appears to crimp the fitting a specific amount and unless the wire inside is the proper size it may be loose.
So I use my hardware store crimper and squeeze it as hard as I can, and I don't always use the indicated color-coded crimp spot on the crimper to do it. I always give the fitting a strong tug on the wire when done. About 10% of the time the fitting comes off and I do it again, squeezing it tighter. Much easier to re-do it now than later when troubles develop. I will always remember arriving aboard a tanker that just had a teletype sort of rig installed. I started having all sorts of problems (I'll spare you the troubleshooting). Turned out to be a half-dozen blue butt-crimp splices. I saw the splices right away but assumed the "professional" installer had done it properly. They pulled apart with an easy tug. I re-crimped them with my technique and had no further trouble. For Mission Critical situations it's hard to beat a soldered Western Union splice with a sleeve of "glue inside" shrink-wrap. Norm S/V Bandersnatch Lying Gloucester MA > Anyone have any experience with the ratchet crimpers from WM listed below? > I generally shy away from WM tools but it looks like a good product with > multiple dies and the price is right. A pair of Ancor ratchet crimpers with > only one die is $70.00. > > _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://liveaboardonline.com/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardonline.com/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
