Jamie

When splicing the most important things to find out are:

*the construction:- what kind of braid / plait, is the core, does the core and the sheath share the load

*the materials used:- polyester and nylon are spliced differently to kevlar, duyneema vectran etc

Yales XTC is a class one 16strand (arb line, but end use doesn't matter to a rope or a splice) so both the New England (hi vee) or Samsons (arbormaster) directions are A-OK to use. i couldn't find Yales but the differences in measurements is tiny. here are New Englands hi vee directionsand directions for samsons arbormaster

When trying to redesign splices you'll also need to think about how you are going to use the splice any problems with particular techniques. how the rope is made and using its construction you can make no end of tools. for example the core in XTC, Arbormaster, HI vee is there only to keep the rope round, all the strength is in the sheath (hence there is no core in the eye).

hope that helps some.

Jamie