Standing Rigging: Spectra vs. Vectran

[osteoderm]

I used 5mm Yale Maxibraid (singlebraid spectra) for the lowers, uppers, and runningbacks on my 13' LOA gaff cutter with great success. I served the large softeyes at the mast attachments, as well as served the small eyes around generous thimbles alow. Great stuff; light, cheap, strong, straight-forward to splice (Mobius Brummels courtesy of the Apprentice). The service was done with waxed nylon twine, including a patch at the spreader tips. Can't say I've noticed any of the creep that Yale warns (online) may occur, but then again, my loads are pretty low. I get more stretch out of my (frequently adjusted) seine-twine lanyards.
Only real worry of mine is concerning chafe from the jibsheets on the uppers; I've been keeping an eye on them, and will likely just replace them entirely if they get to looking fuzzy, rather than play around with more service, baggwrinkle, shroud rollers, etc.

[Brion Toss]

Hi again,
HM fibers, in general, can tolerate bends less than twice the rope diameter; for the tight angly you are talking about ó from more-or-less-horizontal soft eye to shroud angle ó all you need is a radiused shoulder. But I'd go further and, with wire or HM rope, open up that eye a bit, so it's not pulling too hard laterally on the throat of the splice. If the eye is resting on a shoulder, you might need to mold in some thumb cleats.
Fair leads,
Brion

P.S.
Just spent a weekend at one of Mr. Saotome's weapons seminars. That man knows how to hold a sword.

[Garth]

Hi Everybody,

Thanks for the advice. Per Brion's original suggestion we've gone ahead and ordered vectran cored line (NE Ropes V-100).

Brion - I've added thumb cleats to the mast head that are generously rounded over in all ways that matter. We'll make the eyes large enough to lay straighter on the mast and so we should be in good shape.

A few more coats of varnish on the spars and a couple of weeks of warmer weather to finish the hull and I'll be going sailing!

Thanks for all your help.

Garth