wrote, I haven't used them yet. If I'm happy with the results, I'll beef it up to 1/4" cable. 1/4" cable is not as easy to get through - even for me. Now, how do *you* do this? I liked the idea of buying a cable at the hardware store, but that will cost you. Built cables are not cheap. One thing I'd do is have a talk with the maintenance people at your work or school. Working with cable is a pretty common thing. It is very likely you know someone who does this. A six-pack of beer can go along way. Oh wait, here's an idea....just leave a six pack on your car next to the boat. Most thieves will go for the easy score. By the time they finish the beer, they won't care about the boat. At least buy the large diameter cable. I used to work with this 1/4"stuff and it takes as long as 2 seconds to cut through, counting the time it takes to pull my cable cutter from my tool belt. 3/8"or 9/16" takes much longer, perhaps 2.025 seconds and so is much more secure. Visually, yes it is, and believe me half of all thieves are in the dark about cable cutters. Half aren't. Just hope you get the dummy that will try to cut your cable with side cutters. Cables do work at restaurants and short stops enough to justify their use though. As for home mades, it's not difficult with some simple tools. A cable cutter, $ 15.00, swages, cable of course, and a hammer & cold chisel. The hammer & chisel are if you don't happen to have a swaging tool in your kit, $ 100.00+. Make sure the chisel is med. size and just hammer away at the swages at 3 or 4 places across the width; both sides. Instant swages. Remember you're not securing a main mast here; this works for it's intended purpose. After that you're ready for the 6 pack. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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