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Would marking the shackle end of a halyard or hoist line with a sharpy marking pen possibly weaken the fiber of the line ? Just a thin ring of black around the rope. ?

I have marked the daggerboard line on my M with a sharpie (so I can visually verify how far down the board is) without any ill effects. I also make marks on a line with a sharpie when eye splicing and this is a fairly common practice. What makes you think there might be a problem?

Kelly

kziadie wrote: I also make marks on a line with a sharpie when eye splicing and this is a fairly common practice.

Another line-splicer~!!

..

I have a reef mark on my halyard, no problem

Im assuming you are worried about a chemical process where the sharpie ink attacks the line somehow? Im not a materials expert but in my estimation there is little cause for concern here.

The carrier solvent in sharpie ink are xylenes and there is some cresol in the darker inks too. If you check polyester for compatibility with xylene it is ok short term. The xylene would quickly evaporate so only short term exposure would be important.

sps

Frank C wrote:

kziadie wrote: I also make marks on a line with a sharpie when eye splicing and this is a fairly common practice.

Another line-splicer~!!

I confess... I enjoy splicing. Accomplishing something salty that befuddles a lot of people restores the self esteem I lose from my lack of sailing skills

Kelly

Catigale, thanx, .... that was the answer, (and chemical details,) I was looking for.