Just spoke w/ sailmaker Carol Hasse about the hank issue. She recently built sails for a boat w/ Dux inner forestay, using the Colligo softies. Apparently after installing them, the owner, an experienced blue water sailor, felt they would be very difficult to open when hands cold, wet, tired, basically when you need to put on the storm sails!

She checked w/ Colligo. They indicated that use of bronze hanks would not create a chafing problem on the Dux as long as they are new. The problem is when hanks have been previously used on a wire stay, creating a slight groove, and possibly sharp corners. This can be a point of chafe. Otherwise, bronze hanks should work fine.

At this point, this is the direction I'm going...new metal hanks on Dux.

Adam