The slack lines is a misunderstanding. I like my deck lines to be tight as my undies- tight but not too tight.
1/4 to 3/8" sounds good. I notice I have to fumble grabbing my deck lines when I'm wearing gloves. In an emergency I want my first reach to work.
Wooden balls? Will they wear through my glass? (What are those strict Irish rules for deck lines?)

Update: I started pulling glue sticks yesterday. Had some problems. Simeon's idea to pull out each side, snip off one side--worked great. I found that pulling back and forth from both sides worked well to loosen them up. Two didn't seem to stretch at all, just started moving back and forth, came right out. Yesterday afternoon was still too cold.
1. Too cold is no good. too cold seems to be below 70 degrees. Glue sticks are stiff and they snap off.
2. Heat gun will soften the glue sticks inside the epoxy -- it's an option, but it too caused problems. One stick softened in the middle and popped out both sides nicely. Another left a glop inside. Not controllable enough.
I'm not worried that it doesn't work. It's a process in development. I'm no perfectionust, if I have to drill out a couple, no worries. I'll figure this out.

The steep angled one is about 40-45 degrees. Seems OK, haven't pulled it yet.

I've got a toothache that's interfering with everything, so I'm going to wait until I get that drilled out, and for the weather to warm up. (My shop is outdoors, Southern California so I just have to wait a couple of days. Toothache in January in California? Probably like being a lotto winner back in.....)

Conjecture: The coefficient of expansion between glue sticks and epoxy has to be different. Leaving it alone for a few days of cooling and heating cycles alone should loosen up the connection. The Epoxy was set, but it also started to move with heat- so it's still green.

Take a glue stick put it in the fridge for a couple of hours. Wiggle it. Snap.
Heat it up with a heat gun, blow dryer, whatever... Pull it, it'll gloop and drip.
Pick up one at room temp. pull it apart. It'll stretch.

: I disagree on a couple of points:

: First, slack deck lines and a liability when you're trying to
: control a boat during a rescue. Tight, raised deck lines that
: can be easily grabbed with gloved hands are the best way to go.

: Second, it seems that it would be easy to add a 1/4" -
: 3/8" wood pad on top of the deck where the fitting comes
: through to raise the deck lines. Although I currently use wooden
: balls on my deck lines to raise them, the pad idea would be more
: elegant and could be designed to either blend with or accent the
: deck wood.