[Maine Sail]

Anyone using Yale Vizzion for halyards? I need to replace my halyards and I have a very good line on some of this stuff.. Good / bad?

 

[JohnRPollard]

See, I thought you were the resident guinea pig/product tester!?

 

[sailingdog]

Pretty good stuff... needs a high-tech line splice of course, since the core is a Vectran blend. IIRC, it should float, since Vectran/Olefin is lighter than water.

 

[SEMIJim]

IIRC, it should float, since Vectran/Olefin is lighter than water.

Something about with which one would hope not have to concerns one's self in a halyard

Jim

 

[sailingdog]

Just a point that polyester halyards are heavier than water, these will reduce weight aloft slightly.... and less likely to foul the prop if the line ends up overboard.

 

[Maine Sail]

From what I've read

They also don't absorb water so when it rains they do not stretch or get heavier..

Has anyone used these and are they really as low stretch as they claim. As a cruiser I shouldn't mind a little creep but I still have racing in my blood so I'm never quite satisfied with sail shape etc.... you know I'm a sail tweaker....

Sure I test a lot of product and can tell you about some halyards but have never specifically used Vizzion on my boat or on boats I race on. At .69ft for 3/8 I think I'd better just buy it and call it a day... You can't even get the heavy stretchy & rubbery Sta-Set for that price..

 

[sailingdog]

Maine-

I say go for it, if you can get it at that price.

 

[KeelHaulin]

That's a great price for Vizzion. It's not a "racing" halyard by today's standards as products like Warpspeed are about twice the strength/weight ratio as Vizzion. But it is low enough stretch to use as a halyard; you might need to re-tension once it has finished initailly stretching. Once you re-tension it won't continue to stretch. When I bought my boat it was rigged with new halyards; all Yale Vizzion. The I dimension is 54' and it works fine for our needs as non-racers. If you wanted to minimize aloft weight and such you would probably want something like Samson Warpspeed with the cover stripped off on the aloft sections; but it's about 10x more expensive by comparison to your price. I like the black cover with red, yellow, blue, or green tracers; they look sharp and are easy to identify.

 

[Maine Sail]

I like the black cover with red, yellow, blue, or green tracers; they look sharp and are easy to identify.

Actually this 3/8 Vizzion was a production run of red/white/blue.. Kind of ugly but should work fine.. I've used Sta-Set X and hate how it pills and it does seem to creep more than I'd like when wet.

 

[SEMIJim]

Hmmm... We were thinking of going with Sta Set X for our main halyard at the recommendation of one of the guys at the local WM. (He's in our club and races a J35.) OTOH: Another fellow club member recommended 12-strand. Thing is: A 12-strand like Spectra is (more than?) twice as expensive as Sta Set X.

We do race, but, so far, it's just club racing around the cans. That's likely all our racing ever will be.

Jim

 

[PalmettoSailor]

Maine,

How does Vizzion compare to T900 on paper? T900 is too expensive for me to replace all my halyards but I'm thinking I might use it just for the main halyard since thats were it would make the most difference.

I'll probably go with Sta set-X for the genny and spinniker.

 

[sailingdog]

T-900 is much more expensive for a reason. 10mm T-900 has a breaking strength of 11,800 lbs., compared to 3/8" Vizzion's 4,300 lbs. That's the major reason for the cost difference. The comparable strength T-900 halyard would only be 6mm in diameter, and have a breaking strength of 4,400 lbs.

If you're comparing the ropes in diameter, the costs won't be anywhere near each other.

Maine,

How does Vizzion compare to T900 on paper? T900 is too expensive for me to replace all my halyards but I'm thinking I might use it just for the main halyard since thats were it would make the most difference.

I'll probably go with Sta set-X for the genny and spinniker.

 

[121Guy]

Halyard Choice

MaineSail,

This will make an excellent halyard choice....more so at the price. I've spliced this for friends as well as the higher end core oriented stuff from NER and Yale. This stuff needs a core splice as the cover is really just there to provide a nice feel in hand and sun protection. In terms of performance, it stretches less than 1% at roughly 1/4 of it's breaking strength. That is way better than any other line close to that price point....and approaches the more exotic without the cost. The cover wears well too. It has always been of interest to me how strong and low stretch line has become. People seem to forget the stretch characteristics of the bolt rope or luff tape in the sail has more to do with shape holding than the line. This is a sailmakers dream as many sails have been ruined by these new lines, especially when used as sheets...when nothing stretches.....something breaks!

Good luck!

121 Guy

 

[KeelHaulin]

People seem to forget the stretch characteristics of the bolt rope or luff tape in the sail has more to do with shape holding than the line.

Very true; if you are not running a low-stretch sail; then you probably won't benefit much from a low(er) stretch halyard. I think you want to minimize the stretch of the halyard; but at some point it becomes a question of cost to actual performance gained. I'm using the 1/2" Vizzion and it has been good for ~4 years now with little signs of wear/tear on the cover (but some UV fading of course).