I've been thinking about what a rigger told me recently about cotter
pins. He made an interesting suggestion to replace the accessible
cotter pins (ones that don't sit right up against the turnbuckle faces
for example) with SS screws and nylon locknuts.

I did this on my backstay turnbuckle (will post a picture later on
today), and it seems like a pretty clean installation. I don't like
using tape, and these particular cotter pins seem to catch on whatever
comes near them (e.g., lines I hang on the pushpit while underway),
and I couldn't really get them to curl properly. So, I figures what
the heck. There don't appear to be any shearing issues, and I can
always keep cotter pins on hand if I need them I suppose.

Anyone try this? Comments?
--
Capt. JG @@
www.sailnow.com