diff --git a/src/commst.rs b/src/commst.rs
index 57945fc..f431f30 100644
--- a/src/commst.rs
+++ b/src/commst.rs
@@ -11,8 +11,7 @@ use task;
 
 /// A communication task connects a remote node to the thread that manages the
 /// consensus algorithm.
-pub struct CommsTask<'a, 'b, 'c, T: 'a + 'c + Send + Sync +
-                     From<Vec<u8>> + Into<Vec<u8>>>
+pub struct CommsTask<'a, T: 'a + Send + Sync + From<Vec<u8>> + Into<Vec<u8>>>
 where Vec<u8>: From<T>
 {
     /// The transmit side of the multiple producer channel from comms threads.
@@ -20,21 +19,21 @@ where Vec<u8>: From<T>
     /// The receive side of the multiple consumer channel to comms threads.
     rx: &'a channel::Receiver<Message<T>>,
     /// The receive side of the private channel to the comms thread.
-    rx_priv: &'c channel::Receiver<Message<T>>,
+    rx_priv: &'a channel::Receiver<Message<T>>,
     /// The socket IO task.
-    task: task::Task<'b>,
+    task: task::Task,
     /// The index of this comms task for identification against its remote node.
     pub node_index: usize
 }
 
-impl<'a, 'b, 'c, T: Debug + Send + Sync + From<Vec<u8>> + Into<Vec<u8>>>
-    CommsTask<'a, 'b, 'c, T>
+impl<'a, T: Debug + Send + Sync + From<Vec<u8>> + Into<Vec<u8>>>
+    CommsTask<'a, T>
 where Vec<u8>: From<T>
 {
     pub fn new(tx: &'a channel::Sender<(usize, Message<T>)>,
                rx: &'a channel::Receiver<Message<T>>,
-               rx_priv: &'c channel::Receiver<Message<T>>,
-               stream: &'b ::std::net::TcpStream,
+               rx_priv: &'a channel::Receiver<Message<T>>,
+               stream: ::std::net::TcpStream,
                node_index: usize) ->
         Self
     {
@@ -57,34 +56,38 @@ where Vec<u8>: From<T>
         let tx = Arc::new(self.tx);
         let rx = Arc::new(self.rx);
         let rx_priv = Arc::new(self.rx_priv);
-        let task = Arc::new(Mutex::new(&mut self.task));
+        let mut task1 = self.task.try_clone().unwrap(); // FIXME: handle errors
         let node_index = self.node_index;
 
         crossbeam::scope(|scope| {
-            // Make a further copy of `task` for the thread stack.
-            let task1 = task.clone();
-
             // Local comms receive loop thread.
             scope.spawn(move || {
-                select_loop! {
-                    // Receive a multicast message from the manager thread.
-                    recv(rx, message) => {
-                        debug!("Node {} <- {:?}", node_index, message);
-                        // Forward the message to the remote node.
-                        task1.lock().unwrap().send_message(message).unwrap();
-                    },
-                    // Receive a private message from the manager thread.
-                    recv(rx_priv, message) => {
-                        debug!("Node {} <- {:?}", node_index, message);
-                        // Forward the message to the remote node.
-                        task1.lock().unwrap().send_message(message).unwrap();
+                loop {
+                    select_loop! {
+                        // Receive a multicast message from the manager thread.
+                        recv(rx, message) => {
+                            debug!("Node {} <- {:?}", node_index, message);
+                            // Forward the message to the remote node.
+                            task1.send_message(message)
+                                .unwrap();
+                            debug!("SENT Node {}", node_index);
+                        },
+                        // Receive a private message from the manager thread.
+                        recv(rx_priv, message) => {
+                            debug!("Node {} <- {:?}", node_index, message);
+                            // Forward the message to the remote node.
+                            task1.send_message(message)
+                                .unwrap();
+                            debug!("SENT Node {}", node_index);
+                        }
                     }
                 }
             });
 
             // Remote comms receive loop.
             loop {
-                match task.lock().unwrap().receive_message() {
+                debug!("Starting remote RX loop for node {}", node_index);
+                match self.task.receive_message() {
                     Ok(message) => {
                         debug!("Node {} -> {:?}", node_index, message);
                         tx.send((node_index, message)).unwrap()
diff --git a/src/node.rs b/src/node.rs
index 6c6d08a..5fe4c24 100644
--- a/src/node.rs
+++ b/src/node.rs
@@ -104,7 +104,8 @@ where Vec<u8>: From<T>
                     commst::CommsTask::new(from_comms_tx,
                                            to_comms_rx,
                                            to_comms_1_rx,
-                                           &c.stream,
+                                           // FIXME: handle error
+                                           c.stream.try_clone().unwrap(),
                                            node_index)
                         .run();
                 });
diff --git a/src/task.rs b/src/task.rs
index ac0f139..3eadbe5 100644
--- a/src/task.rs
+++ b/src/task.rs
@@ -57,20 +57,27 @@ fn decode_u32_from_be(buffer: &[u8]) -> Result<u32, Error> {
     Ok(result)
 }
 
-pub struct Task<'a> {
-    stream: &'a TcpStream,
+pub struct Task {
+    stream: TcpStream,
     buffer: [u8; 1024],
 }
 
 /// A message handling task.
-impl<'a> Task<'a> where {
-    pub fn new(stream: &'a TcpStream) -> Task<'a> {
+impl Task where {
+    pub fn new(stream: TcpStream) -> Task {
         Task {
             stream,
             buffer: [0; 1024]
         }
     }
 
+    pub fn try_clone(&self) -> Result<Task, ::std::io::Error> {
+        Ok(Task {
+            stream: self.stream.try_clone()?,
+            buffer: [0; 1024]
+        })
+    }
+
     pub fn receive_message<T>(&mut self) -> Result<Message<T>, Error>
     where T: From<Vec<u8>> + Send + Sync
     {