By Daniel Martinez and Andrew Spaulding
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| Antal Low Friction Rings |
When you need to deflect a line or add purchase, the standard go-to is a block, but there are some applications where a block may be too heavy, obtrusive, or expensive.
For instance, by using Antal rings in a backstay cascade on a 36.7, your backstay will have saved 3lbs in hardware weight (over 60%) and $250 in hardware costs when compared with the stock backstay configuration.
The Antal rings are popular for many uses including backstay and vang cascade purchase systems, in-haulers, barber haulers, twings, and lazy jacks, which are all systems that carry high loads but do not require much throw in the line.
Their only real sensitivity is to high friction/heat, such as what blocks experience when a spinnaker sheet is released, so using them as spinnaker sheet turning blocks or mast base halyard blocks is not the best idea.
For instance, by using Antal rings in a backstay cascade on a 36.7, your backstay will have saved 3lbs in hardware weight (over 60%) and $250 in hardware costs when compared with the stock backstay configuration.
The Antal rings are popular for many uses including backstay and vang cascade purchase systems, in-haulers, barber haulers, twings, and lazy jacks, which are all systems that carry high loads but do not require much throw in the line.
Their only real sensitivity is to high friction/heat, such as what blocks experience when a spinnaker sheet is released, so using them as spinnaker sheet turning blocks or mast base halyard blocks is not the best idea.
The pictures above show some of the more popular uses of the Antal Low Friction Rings. If you don’t have the time or knowledge to splice dyneema around your Antal ring, Antal sells them already made up as a ring with loop. The rings are available in four models with holes from 10 to 25mm. See below for a sizing chart:
The Antal Low Friction Rings are widely recognized as the simplest idea for maximum load and minimum weight. In any application it is important to remember that it is likely that the Antal ring will be much stronger than the line used to attach it to the boat. So, realize that it is the safe working load of the line that will limit the use of the Antal ring…or move you up to a larger size ring just to get a larger size line around it. At the Crowley’s retail store you can purchase the 10mm Antal ring for $14.99, the 14mm ring for $15.99, the 20mm ring for $20.99 and the 28mm ring for $29.99. The 14mm ring with dyneema loop (RL6.0) is $57.99 for comparison.
Thanks to Euro Marine Trading, Inc. for providing the Antal catalog online here. Antal’s website can be found at www.antal.it.
As always, please let us know if you have any questions regarding this product.
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