Chafe cover for UHMW

[John D]

I'm replacing the 'fixed' portion of a running backstay with fiber. I'll be using 12 strand braided UHMW (spectra/dynamee) line and plan to create a soft eye at each end to cow hitch (luggage tag) to the existing attachments. The eye splice will be a locked brummell having 2 fids of bury plus one fid of taper with a whipping over the insertion points.

I'm worried about the possibility of chafe against the mast at the top end. I'm thinking about using a polyester cover over the brummell and bury. Where I'd like advice is on how to finish the ends of the cover, both at the eye's throat and past the taper. Does burying the cover in UHMW weaken the line? Assuming I milk the cover tight and lockstitch it in place, is whipping each end of the cover enough?

It's been suggested that I just use heat shrink tubing rather than the polyester cover. Are there any gotchas if I go that route?

I don't need pretty, just functional. We usually send the bowman up the mast about once a month to inspect things.

Thanks

John D.

[NickfromWI]

I'm no sailor, but I'd avoid heat shrink tubing on dyneema/spectra. It's melting point is about 100 degrees lower than nylon/polyester. It will melt easily with flame from a lighter. I wonder if a heat gun will damage it as well?

I'd whip it down.

love
nick

[Jason]

Ditto on the heat shrink - even a heat gun will distort spectra fibers. For chafe guard on halyards and sheets we regularly use a pure spectra cover that yale sells or samson's "Ice" cover or Marlow's chafe cover. The yale spectra cover holds up really well - you can bury it into the core of a single braid line and give it a small whip at the crossover. We cover the eye in the splice as well, burying the spectra cover into the buried tail so that the crossover is just inside the splice. (sounds complicated but you just set up the splice like a core-dominant splice, except you bury the spectra cover into the core before tucking...) But for a backstay, why don't you just wrap it with rubbaweld and call it a day?