synthetic rigging and roller furler

[kentobin]

I'd like to thank everyone for their posts.

If Brion or Gordon should happen read this are you planning on a synthetic rigging class or seminar?

Fair winds and following seas and long may your big jib draw!

Ken

[Gashmore]

I don't believe i would use Dynex Dux inside a roller furling foil unless the foil was supplied with fixed bearings to keep the foil off the Dynex. I have been torturing a length of 9mm for the last year testing elongation, creep and abrasion. This stuff is incredibly tough but the yarns are made up of incredibly small fibers that can get a little fuzzy with enough abrasion. An aluminum foil rubbing around it every day in places where you can't see it would make me a little wary.

OTHO, on the backstay antenna, I stuffed a piece of 16 gauge bare tinned and braided copper inside my victim and pulled it to 60% of MBL and it stood up fine. It does increase the angle of the lay which theoretically increases the load on the yarns but bare 16 gauge is about the same size as a yarn of 9mm and there is one of those at the end of the taper of both splices so I am not so sure that it making a stress riser point is much to worry about. You really need to size Dynex Dux to no more than 12-15% of MBL to keep the creep in check so a few percent loss in breaking strength should not be noticeable.

A few other things: This rope is so stiff that running 23' of wire up inside it would be a real PITA. I would use annealed copper because when you pull it to reset the yarns it is going to grab the wire long before it completely stretches out. There is a good chance that the hard temper copper sold for Ham antennas would get pulled apart. Lastly be sure to run the wire in and tension the line to at least 2,000 pounds before cutting and putting in the second splice. The wire is going to considerably shorten the length.

[Andy Schell]

My solution to the furler issue to not to have one at all. I'm setting up my 35' yawl for offshore work, and plan on rigging with synthetics, and doing it as follows:

-on the bow, I'll have a 100% working jib, hanked on with either bronze or 'softie' hanks, onto a synthetic forestay
-on a synthetic inner forestay, I'll have the same setup, with either a staysail genoa, or a storm staysail. Most likely when heading offshore I'll leave the storm sail permanently hanked so it's ready to go instantly.
-Just inside the forestay, I'll have a 180% genoa rigged on a continuous line furler, independent of the forestay. This can stay rigged in normal conditions, dropped on deck when not needed. Even better would be to rig this on a bowsprit, if I had one.

I consider this the best setup for an ocean-going boat - three sails, ready to go, including a storm sail, with no need to hank on and off sails, and a furler that is independent from the forestay. Just recently before the Carib 1500 cruising rally, a Hylas jammed their conventional roller-furler with the sail half in, half out, and struggled with it for two hours. The end result? - The entire forestay came tumbling down on deck from the strain they'd put on it using the winch trying to unjam it, and the mast would have followed but they had an inner stay. Thankfully it was only on the Chesapeake, but it made my mind up.

[Brion Toss]

[quote= Just recently before the Carib 1500 cruising rally, a Hylas jammed their conventional roller-furler with the sail half in, half out, and struggled with it for two hours. The end result? - The entire forestay came tumbling down on deck from the strain they'd put on it using the winch trying to unjam it, and the mast would have followed but they had an inner stay. Thankfully it was only on the Chesapeake, but it made my mind up.[/QUOTE]

As Mark Twain said, "If a cat jumps up on a hot stove, it will never jump up on a hot stove again. Of course, it will never jump up on a cold one, either." That Hylas was a hot stove, but a properly-installed and -used furler isn't. Nothing the matter with hank-on, but let's be fair.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

[Brian Duff]

That's a funny story about the hylas forestay- mainly because I was at the depature marina for a week or more before participating in the rally aboard our schooner, and didn't see or hear anything about any forestay coming down... Might be a bit of the ol operator game there....

Headsail furling reefing gears work , certainly when installed correctly, use them with faith.
I wonder if dux would hold up better to halyar wrap than stainless? Who can test that one for us?

Eager to set my own westsail up with this stuff- just gtta sell a few boats, first

[Andy Schell]

Furlers do work, and they work great when installed and maintained. Just offering an alternative solution, and enjoying the discussion.

Brian (Duff), we met at the 1500, I was talking about the synthetic rigging at the skipper's meeting, and was aboard your schooner...anyway, I actually helped the guys with the broken furler as it was happening, rowing over in the kayak from the boat I was on to help them get it down. They had engine trouble as well, so we stood by waiting for them to get the sail down to give them a tow...they struggled for 2 hours before it finally broke the forestay right after I arrived - the furling drum had jammed, and the strain they placed on it with the winch trying to make it turn had unscrewed a norseman/stalock fitting on the forestay at the masthead, so they speculated that it was indeed installed incorrectly. It happened at night, and didn't get much attention since they got it fixed so quickly. The rigger's that the Carib 1500 works with made a super effort getting them a new Shafer gear and forestay, installed before the race start. So I don't think it was operator error, just a bad install perhaps? I think the system was fairly old as well, though not sure how old.

Anyway, just offering my ideas. I still think hank-on is the way to go, for me, on a small boat anyway, and it doesn't mean a furler is not...to each his own.

-Andy