You're very welcome. Thank you for supporting us on Patreon. We just put your name in the next ending slide, but didn't know. Would you like to be known as Bob U or your real name?
This was a good video for me combined with the Emily knot tying video something I can watch over and over, thanks as a person who just got a boat these little tips help me out very much.
Glad you are feeling better, Clark! I'd say Halyards are the ones that need the least stretch. If you aren't racing, sheets with a little stretch is better, like poly double braid, I would not recommend dyneema for a sheet.
I’m the Sailboat Department manager and splicer at Fisheries Supply and Samson, Marlow, and Robline are all great quality ropes to splice. New England Ropes is great too, except the one rope of theirs that is terrible to splice is the vintage polyester because it has a spun texture and does not slide well through the bury. Great lesson, one thing I’d point out is that it depends which single braid when comparing the stretch to a double braid. Single braid dyneema has a fraction of the stretch that double braid polyester does, less than a third, whereas dyneema cored double braid has around the same as single braid dyneema. BTW I found your channel when I asked my sailing friends if any of them did pressure canning, and I was referred to Emily’s pressure canning video. Glad to know I can do that with a pressure cooker if I’m smart about it.
Hi Sarah, I'll defer to you in what can be spliced. I've stopped my search after finding what worked. I guess I see both the single braid and double braid dynema core being basically the same thing. The dacron doesn't really count for strength. A like your store. I mis Carl from my days in Seattle. I send a lot of people your way. Fisheries has by far the best website out there for buying boating stuff. If you'd like to do something together we could talk.
Thanks for a very informative video Clark! One aspect that I've heard about lines I'd love to get your perspective on is "handling", e.g. lines you actually handle with your hands on a regular basis. Some people talk about a minimum diameter for comfort, or a material that has better handling characteristics, but I don't know which is which. Thanks again!
Yes thin lines can be hard on the hands but on a cruising boat lines are usually necessarily large enough that that isn't an issue. I don't really care for soft lay line. I'm always concerned it's not durable enough and snags on things too easily. So it kinda goes both ways. I don't have a lot of recent experience with this. Also I just have naturally tough skin and I rarely wear gloves while sailing or working.
agreed on NER for splices. especially their VIPER with dyneema core for halyards. That variety of splice has a lot of fancy burying... one compromise I make is using 8 plait square braid polyester for jib sheets. it has an amazing hand and it lays/behaves better than any other rope in coiling and feeding, and finally very winch friendly with lots of friction per wrap. Hard to find though.
I think I might try to put an eye in that dynema-dacron. The cover is very loose to deal with the eventual dynema creep. Might work. I think it might be fun to use soft shackles.
As usual great video, great explanation. I have seen several videos now where more people are going with dynema for standing rigging. I know your point about someone with a knife but someone who really wanted to do something can always use a saw or wire cutters to mess up your rigging as well. They do not have to cut all the way thru, just enough to break a couple strands of wire. People will always find a way. Rope was used on sailboats/schooners long before wire and is cheaper to replace/carry spare rigging. Like you said it comes down to each individual person and their beliefs. I guess in a pinch you could use the braids in Emily's hair.....lol.....Just kidding. The braids in Emily's hair look fabulous.
I haven't seen a disgruntled boat boy with a bolt cutter in his pocket. But pocket knives... It's blocking the opportunity. I carry a spare stay. Probably never use it. I do carry a bunch of that 1/4 dynema. I think my next lifeline replacement will be synthetic.
Splicing is a chore and a half. It took me weeks to get it to bury correctly. I ended up buying pre spliced halyards lol. I’ll figure out the rest later
I tried to be fancy last year and decided to put a splice in my halyard, (double braid) it didn't go well and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. After some dicking around I finished it. When raising my jib the splice came undone and the halyard went straight through my mast....I had to go up the mast and re run it through....it got stuck, I tried to fish it out and ripped out some wiring to my spreaders...now it's attached with a friggin bowline knot that's whipped into place... Use new line, great advice 👍
Clark, thanks for sharing valuable knowledge to a newbie. I walk away from each of your videos more educated and I really appreciate that. Would you mind sharing what type of grill that is on your boat. I'm not familiar with it. Thanks!!!
Sure,. I think Emily will show us how to tie a bremel splice soon. Very useful and very easy. I'm not well yet (this was recorded earlier) no one wants to hear me cough.
Thanks Joseph but, Sad to say this was recorded before I got sick. I'm still coughing a lot. It's not lines per season it's years before I buy a line. For example the genoa sheet the new line is replacing was bought used 25 years ago to replace a line that was probably original with the boat. And it really isn't that bad yet.
We do not use Dyneema for towing the dinghy due to its low-stretch, poor performance with absorbing shock loads. We use polypropylene, which also floats and has GREAT stretch
That's a very good point. I stopped using polypropylene because I had trouble finding good quality line and had to replace it do often since it really hates the sun. I run a piece of polypropylene (or sometimes bungi cord) inside the single braid dynema. It stays floaty but gets some stretch as the dynema has to squeeze it's core to get longer.
And I started with this modification after loosing our dinghy (see last year's video) during a storm at anchor. Broke a shackle. It was under sized but poly wouldn't have shock loaded it so hard. Had no problems since adding the energy absorbing core.
@@EmilyAndClark that's a great trick. You hate to be in a situation where you're imposing huge loads and you are torn between two bad choices, either shock load the dinghy and damage it, or part the painter and lose your dinghy all together. I might try that. Although I have been using that bright yellow New England ropes polypropylene double braid from West marine. It's a pretty nice product and I have towed my dingy thousands of miles with it. I do snub the line, which softens things up even more, but does not help with the floatability! Ugh, nothing's for free is it? :-)
I just couldn't find that kind of poly last I looked. Last few dinghy painters I've used I bought as heaving line (in a throwing bag). But even when I get a good line it doesn't last. After a few years there are hairs everywhere and I'm afraid it will just part. This is my first attempt with the dynema. Well I'm not afraid it will part! I also like floating line for dinghy anchor line. I talk about this in my anchor video. Keeps it out of the coral.
It has a lot to do with what material the line is made from with minimum sizes chosen for good feel in human hands. Honestly I'd just check the charts from New England ropes and west marine.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge,i was wondering if keflar gets to a point where its too old,have you talked with anyone getting rid of them,does it make sense to buy used keflar?
Kevlar is not UV resistant. It doesn't matter if it's double braid rope. Most of the UV radiation goes through. If you need very strong ropes go with HMPE (dyneema, or spectra). Never with Aramid (Kevlar, or Technora) on a sailing vessel. F.e. I destroy a 10mm Rope with Kevlar-core after 7 months. The kevlar-core wasn't able to hold approx 100 kg. Another strong Material for Ropes is PBO (Vectran), but actually not very common and expensive. Regards from Germany ah
Aye m8’s, Great and informative stuff! Yes there are indeed a lot of lines, types and brands. For wipping I often find dental floss doing the job just fine. What is your experience about this?
Well the gore tex type pretty impervious to the sun and strong. I know people that sew awnings with it. I've never tried it as whipping, I'd be concerned with the smallness. Chafe and all, but I bet it would work fine. I've just always had a spool of waxed string. Though for a while I used 80lb braided dacron fishing line a lot.
I like my stainless. Dynema is just too easy to cut. Things happen. I've had collisions (once during a tornado) where my rigging hit another boats rigging so hard it damaged a spreader mount. If there was something sharp up there a dynema stay would have parted and the mast might have come down. Also vandalism. I'm not comfortable that someone with a pocket knife can so easily part my rig.
Heard what I believed was your voice on the radio giving port instructions to sailing Oceans. Just wondering what is the comparison to the classic Hemp rope to modern rope? Life span and durability compared?
I really have no experience with hemp rope. I believe synthetic is better in all ways or we would still be using the old stuff as it's still quite cheap.
For that you need stretchy and durable. Also easy to remake. For all those reasons - three strand nylon. I think we have a three strand splice video. Easy do it yourself 20 minute project.
... what's some of the lengths on your sheets and lines? Do you keep a spare for the critical lines, like the sheets, just in case, or you just have an assortment that could be tasked for a number of uses?
Each purpose line is its own thing. They get replaced before they actually break and honestly become docklines. They could always be repurposed if necessary. Halyarfs tend to be just over 100 feet and sheets are around 60 I think.
... Cool... I wonder how many people get an estimate wrong because they didn't account for everything in the total length, beyond just getting there from the winch, forgetting how much extra slack/tail/bitter end you need, etc., and now have a new dockline? I would imagine you'd get a reel instead of just getting a specific length cut from the chandlery? With the exception of chafing, I would guess storms would be the biggest cause for damage, or is it mostly the chafing/UV damage?
If you make sure everything runs well without chafe, lines last a LONG time. I sailed someone else's boat to Hawaii once. It had chafe issues and at one time it looked like we might run out of lines before we got there. I was forced to re-rig the boat on the way. 3000 miles of 25 foot waves and 35 knot winds. Temptress has everything running fair and is easy on her lines. The only one I replace regularly is the spinaker halyard. And I don't even run a spinaker anymore. I just use it for the dinghy. But in storms it sometimes chafes on the spreaders.
No I just buy what I need by the foot. Or a bit longer from eBay when I see a deal. Storms really don't hurt lines. They are super strong and way oversized for breaking strength. It's about stretch. A given line might stretch say 5% at half it's breaking load. A larger line of the same type would only be used to 1/4 it's breaking strength so stretches way less. Also you can't handle a small line. Would hurt your hand. Well these wonder fibers are so crazy strong that once they are over 1/2 or so they could literally lift the boat out if the water!
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