Page:Small-boat sailing; an explanation of the management of small yachts, half-decked and open sailing-boats of various rigs; sailing on sea and on river; cruising, etc (IA smallboatsailing01knig).pdf/58

 to one of the nails, and the yarn is wound round the two nails (see Fig. 37) as tightly as possible, until the ring thus formed is sufficiently stout. Then the yarns are tied together, or marled, at short intervals, with twine, and lastly the strop is well stretched with tackle.

Grommets made of wire rope can be advantageously employed on a small vessel for the strops of the main-sheet blocks, as such grommets cannot stretch so much as to allow the blocks to slip through them—a not infrequent accident, and a very awkward one, when a rope strop is used.

All strops, whether of rope or wire, whether selvagee strops, grommets, or eye-splices, should be coated with canvas, or, better still, with leather. If coated with canvas, the strop should be painted; if leather is employed, it should be sewn on the strop wet, as it will shrink when dry, and so fit tightly to the strop.

It is well to have a swivel or revolving hook on one of the blocks of any movable tackle forming part of the rigging, for example, on the tackle of the runners and of the preventer backstays. This will enable turns to be taken out of the tackle without unhooking it.