Synthetic Standing Rigging: How to Tension Your Stays with the Shroud Frapping Knot 

Sounds great! I did that same thing on my lifelines so that I would never drop the lashing in the water if I lowered my lifelines 😎

+whitney william Thanks! We've been here for five years getting everything ready to go, now it's time to make the first step. Baltimore sure does cater well to boaters. While there are places in the city where you would never realize how close you are to the water, from the water the shore line is packed with boats! All you need to do is tie up and walk a block inland and you are surrounded by everything you could want, all within walking distance from the boat. It certainly a fun city!

It looks like you guys are in the fells point area. Definitely some good bars around. I was working over the weekend of the pirate festival. that was pretty cool to see but I wish I wasn't working so I could have enjoyed it

+whitney william Oh cool, we stopped by the pirate festival! Fells point is our favorite Baltimore neighborhood. The boat allows us to live here quite affordably. We will certainly miss it while we are away.

+whitney william If you're ever around Fells, let us know!

Thanks guys, if I'm around that way ill do that

On the contrary, sir. I know exactly what I’m doing. And it’s gotten me across the Atlantic twice

West Marine sells it for the best price when you buy it by the spool.

The blog is a good source: www.riggingdoctor.com I have gone through a bunch of information and distilled it down to what is on the blog. The sources are from The Riggers Apprentice, and a bunch of research papers from the mining industry with their use on dyneema. Samson Ropes also has really good information. I have spoken with the head of R&D at DSM and they told me that the outer 0.1micrometers gets destroyed by UV and then protects the underlying layers of dyneema. As for long term cruising, we prefer it because it can’t corrode and it is easy to inspect. Repairs are also easy to carry out with basic tools, letting you carry out repairs on your own anywhere you are.

The top of the stay is another eye splice. The splice simply attaches to the mast tang with a clevis pin. It is pictured on the blog where all this information is given in greater detail. The blog can be found at www.riggingdoctor.com/life-aboard

Rigging Doctor thank you for this!

Just one that has a doctorate and has crossed an ocean with this system! You should check out our videos: ru-vid.com/group/PLlDgR504Bxwncut9GSKb0SmU1LztUtIw9

The Bible of knot tying is: amzn.to/3Xh0mGK

We have had it for several years and thousands of miles. It’s been holding up fine!

I need to replace my rigging in the next 2 years, this will definitely be something to consider.

If your budget allows, i would recommend turnbuckles for the ease of tensioning. If you can’t afford them, then this complicated knot will save you money but cost you time. Once it’s all set, it holds tension perfectly; we haven’t needed to adjust ours in years! That initial creep phase is rough though with only deadeyes! Every few days you need to take up the slack until the Dyneema enters Phase 2 of its lifecycle and stops creeping. If you have any questions about it, shoot me an email: riggingdr@gmail.com

@@RiggingDoctor my turnbuckles are solid, I would keep those. Metal wire shrouds are questionable, those will need to be replaced soon.

The wear isn’t bad. Everything is moving so slowly and for such a short period of time that no notable damage occurs.

There is, but the tensions will only be the same if the boat is actually symmetrical. On paper, a boat is perfectly symmetrical with the chainplates at the same exact distance and position from the mast. This would create identical triangles which would result in identical stay tensions. The truth is the builders make it more or less symmetrical and therefore you are dealing with different triangles that have different stay tensions to make the mast stay in column. For synthetic as well as for steel, I check stay tension by “giving the stay a tug” and then checking to see if the mast is true. The tensions need to be in a relative order of tightness and as long as they follow the order and produce a straight mast, the actual value of tension is superfluous because the proper result is achieved.

The tensioning lines are 6mm and the knot line is 1.8mm

This video walks you through all the steps: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9-4AYV7jKRA.htmlsi=4WJEmr1TCQIdY9Eh

They are 6mm amsteel, but 5mm will also work just fine if that is what you are able to find locally.

@@RiggingDoctor TX appreciate :-)

That is true about turnbuckles, but once the rigging is set, you won’t have to adjust it much at all. The longest we went without adjusting the stays was 2 years! Lashings are slower to adjust and more finicky, but they are also significantly lighter and cheaper than metal turnbuckles.

+Snake Plisken $105 per hour, but now that we're cruising, I can only work on boats in my immediate area.

I understand. That's above my budget I'm afraid. Enjoy your trip.

Indeed :)