I'm in the same boat, so to speak. The vinyl lifelines I have are now leg graters if you rub against them. My wife found out the hard way.

I just have a 22' trailer sailer, with small holes on the stanchions. I'm not sure what I'd be able to get that would fit, and if there would be much of a difference in cost. I'll have to go to the local rigging store (about 2.5 hours away) and price things out, I think.

I did my 22' trailer sailer in the summer of 2017. You can see the pictures of my first dyneema splices in this thread:
New to Dyneema, want to make lifelines

I spent $280 on the fittings and dyneema (could have gone cheaper, there's no particular reason I need to run a lifeline across the stern of my boat).

I'm happy with them.

Either way the cost is in the fittings.
I would choose either wire.

I did mine 5 years ago. Choose coated wire as I didn't want a bare wire meathook to shrewd my job. Replace myself every 7 years.

Wire is not affected and weaken by sun exposure. No way you coukd convince me dyneema isn't weakened over Tim without showing it. Ive seen what the sun does to my sacrificial dinghy cover every year.

If your boat is in the sunlight 10 months of the year I would take that into consideration.

I’ve never had a failure of my coated SS lifelines which were replaced on a 12-13 yr cycle for my 28 yr old boat. About 2 years ago I switched to uncoated 316 SS for uppers and lowers. It appears that my old lifelines were probably lower grade 304 SS, based on the discoloration of the (originally) white vinyl cover from internal corrosion.

I understand the dyneema attraction, but—like SanderO—I’m comfortable staying with a traditional, time-proven system.

just finished replacing my lifelines including a starboard gate,used the Suncor system.pricey with stainless wire uncoated
looks good

I did my former cal 25-2 with 3/16" Dyneema. Used SS turnbuckles to tension and manage creep. Spliced the Dyneema on SS thimbles to avoid chaffing on the turnbuckles. Was as good as new when I sold the boat 5 years later. Currently considering the same thing for my Jonmeri 33 (only for cosmetic reasons)

I just had my lifelines replaced last month. I went with vinyl coated steel. I did this after consulting with a couple of friends, one an accomplished PHRF racer, the other a professional rigger/friend and I considered these three options. Dynema? The rigger pointed out its advantages but added “in the end Dynema is a fiber, not steel. It will suffer from constant UV exposure and it will wear out and need to be replaced long before steel. Over the life of wire will Dynema be cheaper?” Good question. Coated vs. uncoated ateel? The racer’s experience with abrasion led him to recommend vinyl coated steel. Foredeck crew, sails, and sheets can be hurt by exposure to uncoated wire lifelines. It wasn’t cheap but I had my lifelines replaced with vinyl coated steel. They look great.

Wow, that thread is a gold mine. I need to spend some time in there now. Thanks!

There is no question that uncovered dyneema degrades with UV exposure, the amount of degradation is difficult to access, but it does degrade. It also chaffs more easily than SS wire. Either way, you need to thoroughly inspect every year and replace all lashings every year. With SS, there is very little to do every year.

I seriously considered dyneema, but after doing the research (PS has a good article on the subject) and noticing that World Saling OSR switched from allowing HMPE to not allowing them, I choose to go with bare wire. I just replaced my 25 year old vinyl covered 7x7 with bare 1x19 316 wire.

Just to add that Offshore Racing regulations don’t allow vinyl coated SS wire to be used. There has been issues with moisture retention and hidden corrosion.

I’ve always used stainless wire lifelines but they get deformed by the spinnaker downhaul and jib sheets. Might try Dyneema n