About Dyneema ropes

[Mika Harju]

My boat has Liros Regatta 2000 Dyneema ( http://www.liros.com/artikelliste.aspx )ropes almost everywhere in use, but I do have problems with rope's outer cover durability especially in main halyard.
Easyblock Midi ( http://files.globalbsi.com/easyMarine_Catalogue[small].pdf ) rope clutch wears out or breaks down the cover within one season, because the rope is locked every time in the same position. I have spliced an extra outer cover at critical points, but it is quite difficult to make.
Has anyone experiences of other Dyneema ropes than lasts longer in this use?
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Mika Harju
DF1000 Racing #8

[Mal]

Mika;-

Have had my boat 5 years, admitedly with light use, but the dyneema halyards are still OK. Sorry, don't know what make the line is. Have only replaced the dyneema on float winching out arrangement as a safety precaution.

Don't use Liros next time?

Mal
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DF920 Pelican, Swansea

[gminkovsky]

I have Dyneema main halyard. I had damage to the cover in the very first year when an inexperienced crew opened the halyard rope clutch under load. I had then installed additional polyester cover at 4 positions on the halyard: main up, reef 1, reef 2, main down. After 6 seasons, the cover is in perfect shape. I am very careful to always put the halyard on the winch and relieve the load before opening the clutch. The cover can actually be stripped if the clutch is open under load.

[Mario]

Mika, I agree with you: Easyblock midi rope clutch wears the main halyard. I have my 35’er in 3 years now and the mains halyard broke of tearing 3 times. From the beginning I could see more and more damages on the polyester cover in the place where Easylock grabs the rope. The halyard broke after 3 moths from new. I changed to Lewmar, which appeared not so much better: only 2 months old halyard broke 2 miles before the finish during Fyncup regatta. The main was on the reef 1. It was only cover that broke, so with the very slack main we finished the race. Now I have a Spinlock XCS more then 1 year and it works perfect despite very intensive use. The rope is much harder at the clutch place, but there are no signs of tearing. Another thing is a rope. There are different Dyneema, and I can se a simple relation: more expensive = better. Now I have the Racer. 35’er has quite big main requiring 2:1 halyard, so the total length is 60 m. It means a lot of money just for a rope. Therefore, its good idea to every year: first: change/reverse ends, then next year cut 20 cm of, then reverse ends again and so on.
Gminkovsky, how you have “installed additional polyester cover” ? one from the thicker rope? how you fixed the ends?
Mario

[gminkovsky]

Mario,

My halyard is 10mm. I purchased 12 mm double-braid polyester rope, removed the core, cut the cover into pieces about 50 cm long. I burned the ends of each piece to melt polyester with a screwdriver keeping it in open shape. I then threaded the halyard into the new cover. Pulled the cover to the correct position. Then I used a needle with Dacron thread and sewed the cover to the halyard all along the whole length of the cover. Then I carefully finished each end of the cover all around the halyard so that there are no loose threads. You need to ensure that the ends of the cover are not too thick so they do not get stuck in blocks or around sheaves.

The most difficult part is threading the halyard into the cover. You will probably need to sew a thin messenger rope to the end of the halyard, then attach a piece of thin stiff wire to the messenger rope. Use the wire to pull the messenger rope into the cover. Then work methodically and slow to pull the cover to the right position on the halyard.

[Mal]

You are going to think that this is a very silly question;- I would like to change my main halyard end for end, but don't want to take the mast down (cost!). As halyard is 2-1, is tied at top of mast. Can only go up mast on main halyard, so how can I change it? Any brilliant ideas? Safe ones, that is!
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DF920 Pelican, Swansea

[gminkovsky]

Mal,

You could tilt the mast down using Quorning-supplied mast-lowering cables and blocks. The top of the mast will be about 3 meters higher than the base of the mast. So if you have a dock or warf nearby that you can come to, you could put a ladder to support the top of the mast. I know that a couple of people have done things like this to work on the top of the mast or go under a low bridge. There may even be a discussion and/or pictures of this in the old forum. I believe you do not even need to remove main and jib to do it...

I am sure that others will respond with more details on how they partially tilted/lowered the mast.

[Mario]

Mal,
You really don’t have to take the mast down! I use the main halyard to come up, and then with a piece of rope I fasten my chair to the mounting which is on the top of the mast, and then can release the main halyard. After changing the ends I fix the chair to the halyard again, lift 5 cm up, and then can release the piece of rope and go down.
Good luck
Mario

[Mal]

Thanks Mario;- I'll try that one.

p.s. Can you recommend any good life insurance companies?
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DF920 Pelican, Swansea

[Mario]

It’s really easy and safety method, which I tried (had to…) several times. Instead of piece of rope you can use safety line. If your snap hook can go through the eye on the mounting on the top, set the line from chair up to the mounting twice or three times to make it shorter. More tightly you fix it, less height you loose after releasing the main. Take a knife with you as the knot on the halyard can be not to untie. Halyard is heavy and you can miss it, so better take a good piece of it from the mast and keep fast before cutting. Then connect to extra rope. Last time I forgot extra rope, so I used spinnaker halyard. Connection should be fast, but to be honest, I place the ends in line and just tape very fast.

[gminkovsky]

Important correction to my note on extra cover on the Dyneema halyard.

My halyard is 8mm, and the cover I added is 10mm. 12 mm cover will not go through the rope clutches on the 920.

I had just examined the covers on the halyard. After 6 seasons without any maintenance I had to completely re-stitch the cover at the sail-up position and partially re-stitch the cover at the Reef-1 position. Obviously, these are the ones I used the most. The reef-1 cover only needed some stitching of the loose threads at each end of the cover. These get actively damaged each time the sail goes up or down. The sail-up cover stitching had to be re-done completely. All stitches around the ends were completely destroyed. The stitches along the length of the cover were gone. The cover shifted on the halyard and bunched up at one end preventing the sail from coming down. There is very noticeable wear in the first 10 cm and last 6 cm of the cover. There is some wear and tear along the length of the cover. I assume it is doing a good job, otherwise this wear would be on the original cover of the Dyneema rope.