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New Lifelines

5K views 22 replies 20 participants last post by  Tuna Driver 
#1 ·
I am going to install new lifeline on my new to me 89 Catalina 30
So far I have seen 3 choices 1) Stainless with vinyl 2) Stainless without vinyl 3) Dyneema Line

Suggestions?
 
#4 ·
Yes you identified the three basic choices. With covered or uncovered stainless wire, you can remove your old ones and take them to a local rigger and have them made up to match. With dyneema, it can be a DIY project. I went the dyneema route a few years ago with 1/4 inch single braid. Very easy to splice. Was able to reuse most of my fittings - turnbuckles, gate hooks, etc. and just bought threaded studs from Defender. Total cost was about half what new SS wire would have been.
 
#5 ·
Dyneema. I used SeaDog pelican hooks which were surprisingly inexpensive, joined the forward and aft sections with Naxen climbing rings and use a whoopee sling made from the dyneema to keep all tight. With ebay 5/16 dyneema the cost was much lower than replacing the steel wire. Works better for my needs too.
Takes a couple tries to learn the "mcdonald locked brummel", a fat knitting needle with the top cut off makes a good fid for the job.
 
#8 ·
I did dyneema, with two “upgrades”. I added a chaffing cover where the line goes through the stanchions and lock whipping on all the splices. The only hardware purchased was what was needed for the gates.
 
#11 ·
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.
 
#12 ·
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.
 
#13 ·
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.
 
#19 · (Edited)
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.
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.
 
#14 ·
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.
 
#17 ·
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.
 
#20 ·
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
 
#21 ·
I ultimately had my lifelines replaced with bare stainless wire and oversized the top line from the OEM coated wire that was there previously.

I agonized over all these alternatives, as well. I quickly eliminated coated wire, for the same reason the offshore committees do. My OEM wire was coated and it clearly rusted from within. The tell tale orange rust was appearing out the ends of the coating and through cracks.

The concern over getting rash from uncoated is intuitively sound, but I've never experienced it on any boat with uncoated. Perhaps I'm lucky, perhaps I'm more inclined to treat the lifelines, as if they were an electric fence, like I was taught. Never come in contact. However, that's not always practical on some side decks.

I gave serious consideration to dyneema, particularly for the DIY element. I would have insisted on the specialty hardware that would have allowed me to splice each end. I'm not a fan of the methods that essentially have adjustable hitches at one end of the line, but it's only aesthetics. I believe dyneema will need to be done more often.

In the end, what put me over the top was the relative efficiency of just paying the local rigger to come to the slip, while I was away, and just get it done. I would have been fiddling with the lifelines over two weekends at a minimum. One to fully disassemble, one to reassemble. The added cost of paying the rigger was much less than I had assumed and was the price of admission for two more sailing weekends last year. Done.
 
#22 ·
Replaced ours 2 years ago with 10mm black double braid. On our 43' cat we needed about 200' for double lines both sides and stern so huge difference in price compared to dyneema. Purchased a full roll online plus some long threaded, closed eye bolts to give us some future adjustment. Put a large barrel swivel in each line to eliminate any twist. Looks and feels great and very soft on bare legs.
 
#23 ·
Another crew member replaced the vinyl coated steel on a Catalina 30 we race a few years ago. Everyone on board prefers it. One caveat is to put cushioning rolls on the sections where we hike out for comfort. So far it has held up nicely.
 
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