Why trailer sailors should have Synthetic Rigging

[@derkong7114]

Great video! Gosh I wish you were my neighbor and I could just drop by when I needed some help on my boat...lol

[@ruddyducksailing]

Lol, sounds like fun to me!!!

[@VincentTheRealtor]

Great Video! Hello from Victoria BC Canada.

[@ruddyducksailing]

Hey, thanks! I hope to see Victoria someday accessed from a boat. Looks like a beautiful city

[@ericjnelson6442]

Great video, seeing the Ruddy Duck in real life with how well you have her set up is awesome!!

[@ruddyducksailing]

Thanks man!! It’s getting there, still a few projects I’d like to do to make her a efficient, fast and fun adventure seeking vessel. We will have to go sailing sometime!!!

[@fs7453-il]

Excellent splicing demo

[@ruddyducksailing]

Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching

[@jeremyradawiec8919]

Great video! I'm getting ready to rig my Welsford Navigator. What size of low friction rings did you use?

[@ruddyducksailing]

Thanks!! I used antal 10x7 rings

[@svprimitiva]

Looks great. I did all dyneema standing rigging with low friction rings on my build as well. Super easy to work with.

[@ruddyducksailing]

Thanks. It’s definitely easier than rigging up stainless and a fun process.

[@gertboerman3666]

Great video again. Btw...as a proud Dutch guy.....Dyneema is a Dutch invention. Piet Lemstra and Paul Smith (also born in Holland) patented it in 1979. Based on PE. Back in the 30's people already believed that PE could be manipulated to create extremely strong fibers. Piet and Paul picked up that idea within a Dutch company called DSM and found it. Headquarters still in Heerlen, their lab was in Geleen. And on temperature......my idea is that when temperature drops....the entire boat becomes smaller so one has to retuned rigging anyway.

[@ruddyducksailing]

Thank you for the cool insight into the history of dyneema! Those two guys are brilliant chemists with quite the resume! I read up on them a little after you shared the information and I was quite impressed. I am definitely thankful for their hard work and development in in the fiber that is 15 times stronger that steel by the same weight! Amazing

[@robertashton5198]

You make it look so easy👌

[@ruddyducksailing]

Thanks. I’m no pro but I’ve done a few projects.

[@jadams3427]

Interesting and well presented. Many thanks !

[@ruddyducksailing]

Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching

[@EdHAILE]

You're not alone. Very persuasive. Next time I renew standing rigging. Thanks much for the splicing demo. Couldn't be clearer. You might have mentioned that the shrouds should chafe the mailsail much less and not require jackets. As for running rigging, I find that my dyneema jibsheet is uncomfortably slippery but sure runs through the ring lead. My dyneema topping lift will not hold a line hitch. Otherwise. ED and his Gloucester 16.

[@ruddyducksailing]

After 3 years the dyneema rigging is still my favorite upgrade to the boat. I kinda never really thought about the benefit of less chafe on the sails but you are right ! I won’t have to worry as much when I get new sails as long as they keep off the Diamond stays. As far as jib sheets have you heard of tapered lines? Basically a dyneema core and poly sheath so you get the weight savings and strength of dyneema but where they reach the cleat they go from bare core to a complete line for a good hand feel and cleating ability. I put them on my Ericsson 30 when we were racing a lot and I loved them. Kinda pricey line though!

[@vanhoatsma]

THANK YOU for this video! I just bought a Newport 17 that's got a screwy shroud setup (I think), and now, instead of trying to figure out what hardware I need, and how (and if!) to trim the cable, I'm just going to replace both shrouds with Amsteel and call it a day. I'm pretty sure that's get me on the water faster, too!

[@ruddyducksailing]

Sweet. That’s pretty much why I upgraded my rigging also. I’m still happy I did 3 years later after lots of sailing.

[@jeffreyerwin3665]

The home-rigger's way is to use two copper crimps for each eye on 1x19 stainless wire. Personally, I prefer the crimps over the swages because with the crimp the wire goes around the eye. On the swages, the wire is trying to pull itself directly out of the fitting, and I have seen them fail at inopportune times. It is a little work, but one can make crimped eyes on 1/8" through 1/4" 1x19 wire using a hand tool. 7x19 wire only requires one copper crimp. I replaced all of the standing rigging on my Glander Cay 23 using the hand crimp tool.

[@ruddyducksailing]

Cool. Do you splice the eye or just wrap around a thimble and add crimps?

[@phillysailormac]

Because I store the boat on the trailer with the mast down, I terminate the shrouds at a stainless ring a few feet off the deck which is tensioned with a laser 3:1 "practice" downhaul system on a 2:1 (attached at the deck, runs through the shroud ring, tensioned back to the deck.) Its cheap, as well as quick and easy to set up. I lash the spare tensioning line so that it must stay cleated in the laser downhaul rig.

[@ruddyducksailing]

That's cool! What kind of boat do you have? I was debating putting a system like that on my Newport 16 on the forestay, I would rig a purchase system to the terminal and leave the lashings as a backup and standard wind tension but be able to tension the forestay in much higher winds to tension the luff of the headsail. most boats do this with the backstay but the Ruddy Duck doesn't have one, LOL. I guess my other option is adding running backs. Any thoughts? thanks for watching!

[@andystewart6413]

Wondering if you could provide a link for all the the terminal ends and frictionless rings that you used? Also where did you find the cheapest location for your dynema line?

[@ruddyducksailing]

I do not recall where I purchased the hardware but most likely from Fisheries supply in Seattle or west marine. Some terminals may need to be purchased directly from colligo

[@williams9346]

In building and rigging a Swift Solo Skiff, I used a Brion Toss Splicing Wand for splicing Lightening, Vectran and Amsteel standing and running rigging. The wands come in various sizes and make tapered splices easier to complete. Brion Toss has some helpful videos regarding splicing techniques for various types of line.

[@ruddyducksailing]

Brion toss was a ledgend and came up with most of the synthetic splice techniques and knots that I have on my boat! If I end up doing a lot more splicing I’ll look into getting a wand. It looks like a great tool !! Thanks for the recommendation

[@billfromgermany]

I bought the splicing wand too, but didn‘t like it at all! I found that the wand,, together with double thickness of core or sheath were really difficult to pull through and ended up breaking the loop. I now use hollow fids with a pusher exclusively for single and double braid.

[@DerrickGravesen]

I'm in the process of switching over my Mariner 19 to synthetic (Amsteel Blue). How much space would you recommend between the terminal on the shroud and the chain plate? How long are your shrouds, and how much did they stretch after splicing? This is the best video I've found for changing to synthetic rigging on small boats like ours. Thanks for uploading!

[@ruddyducksailing]

I would recommend 12” to 16”. My shrouds are 14’ long and I set them up with about 8” between the terminal and chain plate and they stretched 3-4” total and stopped stretching after about 5 really heavy sails. Quite a bit of construction stretch. I would prefer a little more distance on my setup but there’s still a few inches of adjustment left. It definitely doesn’t hurt to have longer lashing lines.

[@comboyneorchard8537]

I like the idea from a weight point of view. What do you do were the rigging goes over the tips of the spreaders?

[@ruddyducksailing]

The Ruddy duck doesn’t have spreaders but what I would do is make sure the area on the spreader that the dyneema runs through is very smooth. Even polished if you could. Also sew on a two inch long chafe cover over the dyneema shroud where it contacts the spreader

[@RulgertGhostalker]

Excellent Video !!! this thought has crossed my mind so many times, why no one rigs with Aramids. but of course "if no one does, there must be a reason" ??? and it was this reoccurring question ... it's good to have someone point out the reasons to rig with Dyneema. it's like the thought of diving into water where you can't see if there are any hidden dangers beneath the surface, it stops you ... until someone, who has been there, dives in and comes up fine.

[@ruddyducksailing]

Thank you!! That’s a great analogy and I was happy to not be the first diving in also! Glad to follow the recommendations of sailors who installed dyneema before me and have a rig that outperforms what I previously had.

[@RulgertGhostalker]

another thing Dyneema is good at is: Keeping Aluminum Masted Fractional Rigs From Mast Failure....whenever someone limps back with a kink at the forestay; it was because they encountered weather, with a tired old Dacron Main....on the other hand, a Dyneema Cruise laminate main Won't just keep stretching into a poopy diaper ... it takes Way Less backstay tension for the same amount of de-power....Also, a Low Stretch main halyard will also help reduce chances of mast failure also, ( i used to work at a shipyard ) .... another good thing In General, When it's time for bottom paint

[@RulgertGhostalker]

some people with aluminum masted fractional rigs are slow to the Caution, because they know Daycron costs less, and are familiar with it ....but you have to change Daycron more often on a aluminum masted fractional, and it actually ends up costing more, even if your mast survives it. but i at least try talking them into a low stretch main halyard, because when your cranking on the backstay, there is More main halyard tension at the mast head than there is at the winch, and that's a Big Part of the luff stretch....@@ruddyducksailing

[@RulgertGhostalker]

anyway....that's a nice little sailboat....i hope to be able to get something a long those lines, at some point ... great weekender..@@ruddyducksailing

[@RulgertGhostalker]

what it is about aluminum is the Fatigue Stress ... or to say; the aluminum actually gets "old"and prone, on fractionals....and a Dyneema Laminate main + low stretch main halyard, are the Best mast insurance...... i mean Obviously Dyneema stretches more that Stainless, ( in the rigging sense ), but that's not what i am replying about here...@@ruddyducksailing

[@stevenwarner7348]

✨🌟🌸👍🌸🌟✨. This one is a keeper! ~~~. Thanks so much for this.

[@ruddyducksailing]

My pleasure, thanks for watching

[@backtothebarky]

Great informative video with excellent advice and splice lesson, cheers. How to you get on with those soft shackle hanks? Surely they pop off the stay when the sail flogs about?

[@ruddyducksailing]

Thank you. The soft shackle hanks work really well. I have never had one come loose and pop off in the two years I’ve had them. They take a little longer to get on and off the forestay than traditional hanks but other than that they are great.

[@liamstone3437]

I have been planning to do the same on my WWP15. One other downside is that the rigging will loosen in the cold weather so when seasons change it could need adjustment from morning to afternoon. It's not a big enough disadvantage to stop me though. I live in the Boise area so just a smidge warmer than you. My plan is to 3d print a blank and cast my own terminators in aluminum rather than purchase the colligo terminators. A project to try before my stainless needs replacing. I like your videos.

[@ruddyducksailing]

The cold hasn’t affected mine enough to notice. The idea of making your own terminals is great! You will save a lot by doing that. I debated making my own from carbon fiber but never got around to it. Thanks for watching!!

[@darb4091]

Stretch and thermal expansion/contraction; I have also read that you will/may have to seasonally adjust for temperature changes. Not an issue for summer only sailors, but can you still terminate to existing turnbuckles?

[@ruddyducksailing]

Yes on larger boats you will definitely need to adjust the rigging in below freezing temps. My rig is so small the stretch was so minimal that adjusting wasn’t needed. And yes you can terminate at turnbuckles for quicker adjustments but you have to be way more precise on length when splicing !

[@darb4091]

@@ruddyducksailing Good info, thanks! I suppose that either pre-stretching yourself or paying for the more expensive product would be worthwhile for use with turnbuckles.

[@billfromgermany]

I also use 6mm single braid dyneema on my 36ft yacht guardrails, tensioned with 4mm dyneema. Use short length of plastic hose as protection against abrasion where it passes through stanchions. Can’t understand why anyone still uses wire!

[@ruddyducksailing]

That's an excellent use for dyneema. Very strong, soft, and not susceptible to corrosion. I see so many steel lifelines at marinas that are cracked and rusting out just waiting for a heavy guy like me to fall through them.

[@peteharper3614]

I'm a big fan of dyneema for halyards and control lines. My halyards on my Catalina 22 are 3/16 dyneema. I use a ball point pen case as my splicing fid. My spinnaker sheets are 1/8" dyneema spliced to 1/4" braided dacron that is easier on the hands. Boom vang cascade is also dyneema. That said I would never recommend dyneema for standing rigging. Primary concern is UV light resistance. Standing rigging is in the sun 24/7. It will break catastrophically with no signs of wear. My halyards last about 3 seasons before they are changed. It is one thing to loose a genoa halyard; quite another to loose a forestay. Chafe resistance is another concern. Lastly I would not recommend lashed terminals. Little to no fine adjustment capability. Very difficult to accurately tune the rig. I frequently make on the water adjustments by counting turns on the turnbuckle. I have tuning tables, X turns equals Y pounds. Assume you go out and the wind is 5-7mph for the first race of the day. It builds to 10-15mph in the afternoon. I can retune the rig on the water between races.

[@ruddyducksailing]

Very cool. I assume you're racing a capri 22, fun boat. I love my dyneema running rigging but it does encounter chafe because its moving all the time through blocks fairleads and sheaves but I haven't encountered a failure on anything yet and the chafe is very minimal. My standing rigging however has zero Signs of chafe because it just stands there and doesn't move and I don't have anything rubbing up against it so I don't think that's something to worry about. As far as uv damage it is actually easy to tell if the dyneema is affected because it will get fuzzy after many many years just like it does from chafe and as the sunlight only affects the outside of the line it retains most of all of its strength. Of course you should change it out if it does this. Do you have experience with uv causing a catastrophic failure? I love talking to racers cause they always have the best tips and tricks and push their boats to the limits so thanks for commenting! I race but mostly beer can stuff and not hardcore so maybe I can learn something from you? On the boats I've been on the shrouds are tensioned to not go slack in the highest wind that can be expected in a area that we race and then only use the adjustable backstay to tension the rig in higher winds, tightening the forestay and flattening the mainsail . I've never adjusted or seen shrouds adjusted between races. Why would you loosen the tension on the shrouds between races instead of leaving it set for the highest wind expected? Thanks- Brian

[@fredrappley6960]

Another great video, I like the way you think outside the box. I was going to use a version of you jib sheet adjuster with dyneema and a low friction ring but the cleat I was going to use wouldn't bite into the line enough to keep it where I'd like it to be. I will continue with polyester braid and expect good results.

[@ruddyducksailing]

Yeah it’s a bummer that dyneema is so slippery cause it would be awesome to splice and use in that situation but we’re stuck with poly. It really works fine though. Thanks for watching!

[@Maungateitei]

​@@ruddyducksailingSincev Dyneema is just uhmwpe. Long chain polyethylene as used for low fiction wear resistant ski bottoms, industrial conveyor belt skid pads etc. You are paying high prices for a brand stamped on the cheapest and least appropriate material for the purpose. PE creeps if kept under load, so your rigging will stretch. Polyester or Nylons (BTW Kevlar is a nylon), have higher yield strength, and far higher toughness. .

[@setkacagarro-blogspot-com]

@@Maungateitei you can get dyneema that is pre streched and heat treated that does not creep its more expensive but for standing rigging its great have a look at Lanex dyneema DF20

[@ianb4801]

an issue I've seen on another channel (Rigging Doctor), where the liveaboard sailor is also a professional rigger, is that his dyneema standing rigging slackened right off when the temperature dropped to around freezing. Seems dyneema actually loosens when it's cold rather than tightening. He just left it and motored for a couple of short legs and until the weather warmed and the rigging tightened itself. He didn't re-tension it when it was cold because he understood that it would then over-tighten when it warmed. Not sure if trailer sailor people sail when it's damned cold and maybe it's just common practice adjust standing rigging tension frequently anyway, but this sensitivity to cold surprised me.

[@ruddyducksailing]

Yes it is definitely an issue on the larger boats where the length of the rigging compounds the elongation. My shrouds are only 14 feet long so it barely moves . We sailed in around 15 degrees F and the tension was still good. I imagine in 20 below might be an issue but I would probably not sail in that because everything freezes up and is unusable anyways. As far as readjusting tension I have had it set at the same tension for over a year now and it hasn’t changed with probably 20 or so different launches so for me it has been good.

[@ianb4801]

@@ruddyducksailing you also have the good side of that by having to routinely re-rig your boat. I sail a very heavy Hallberg-Rassy 38, currently in Panama. But if I visited Launceston then low temp might be an issue if I converted to synthetic

[@0718dm]

I may be doing Dyneema rigging on my Sabre 28 when the time comes.

[@ruddyducksailing]

Very nice! there's a Sabre at the marina I work for and it seems to be a high quality boat. Once you get into that size boat there are all kinds of cool synthetic rigging technologies to utilize like uv/chafe covers, deadeyes, cheeky tangs, etc. You will definitely enjoy the weight savings if you. choose to go synthetic. Thanks for watching

[@tj7870]

excellent video!

[@ruddyducksailing]

Glad you liked it! And thanks for watching.

[@Mafiakitty]

What load are those low friction rings rated for? Enough for a 35'+ boat?

[@ruddyducksailing]

I have the smallest ones they make and they are rated for a safe working load of 800 lbs . I used antal low friction rings and they make a huge variety of sizes up to 22,000 lbs safe working load so they will definitely have rings that will work for your boat!!

[@jeremyradawiec8919]

The terminal you are using at the mast end, does it have a tang/plate on both sides?

[@ruddyducksailing]

Yes I have a tang on both sides of the mast with a through bolt holding both tangs on

[@jeremyradawiec8919]

@@ruddyducksailing thanks for the response. I think I worded my question wrong. Where the colligo attaches to the mast, is there a forked tang on either side of the colligo terminations?

[@ruddyducksailing]

Yes. You can see this at 4:14 on the video. I used split / forked tangs up top because the mast was already set up like this. If your boat has single tangs then you could use a forked colligo terminal at the top of your shrouds as long as there is enough clearance between the mast and terminal

[@RulgertGhostalker]

on the question, i also thought; pull the cast iron, and re-cast a lead keel ... but i did the math on it, and it would only be 138 pounds more ballast, if the same in lead....but for a 750 pound sailboat, 138 extra pounds in ballast might not be bad ....but though lead is fairly inexpensive, it's the process of making a negative, and re-casting, that would be quite the endeavor. but really, the SPEEDCOAT-49 bottom paint is a more reasonable upgrade, being bottom paint is part of maintenance ..... because if it moves across the wind faster, in relation, ( or more easily ) that's the same thing as having more righting moment. my yacht design book also shows examples of hull surface smoothness, and the graphs make me think spending a little more time on substrate prep, and having the SpeedCoat-49 sprayed on, would be worth it too.

[@ruddyducksailing]

Bottom paint definitely makes a difference in speed if your boat stays in the water ! On ballast I would opt for a lighter rig and new sails before casting a new keel. New sails will keep a boat on its feet due to the ability to flatten the sail reducing its power. And synthetic rigging will lighten the load up high giving you a lower center of gravity. If all that doesn’t work then yeah an extra 138 lbs of weight in the keel would definitely do it on a small boat!!

[@RulgertGhostalker]

makeing yeah, those new sails would be definitely one of the best upgrades, for sure......a negative, to cast a new keel would be an awful lot of work.....where that Speedcoat-49 is a Hydrophobic coating.@@ruddyducksailing

[@RulgertGhostalker]

on both the mast patch, and the lead keel topic, i forgot to mention galvanic isolation. ( not so much an issue in fresh water, but it's still always good to check the galvanic tables, when mating different materials )@@ruddyducksailing

[@RulgertGhostalker]

anyway...i am voting for new dyneema cruise laminate sails, and speedcoat-49....those are your two best moves, no doubt.@@ruddyducksailing

[@fredknoch]

Sounds nice and easy and I definitely appreciate the weight savings. On my boat, however, I raise the mast and then tension the stays with the forestay turnbuckle until everything is nice and tight. How to you connect your forestay when raising the mast at the ramp? I don’t see an adjustment for tension like a turnbuckle.

[@ruddyducksailing]

I use my jib halyard fastened to the bow and tension it tight so I can fasten the forestay easily by hand. I leave the tension set where it is ! The bigger the boat the harder this will be. You can also tension the rig using an adjustable backstay if you even have one. The ruddy duck doesn’t. It’s also fine to use turnbuckles instead of lashings on your rigging but you have to be way more precise when splicing in the dyneema.

[@theresnobodyhere5778]

the reasoning of it all makes sense ,although i wonder if sailing salty sea water would affect the rope on rope chaffing lines dont last long or look good after a couple of seasons you see the difference with the uv and salt water the colours fade the lines stretches and the stiffness starts to deteriorate not so much on the dyneema i only have main halyard dyneema and its got plenty of strength they just one colour anyways and been on boat since dont know two owners back about 8years and drenched in salt water

[@ruddyducksailing]

Saltwater will probably cause it to wear out quicker but I think it will still last quite awhile. I’ve read some articles where bluewater boats will use the same setup with soft hanks on their storm jib. Not sure about the longevity . Saltwater is brutal on stainless also causing crevice corrosion in the swages .

[@journeymanadventure]

There are plenty of people using it on blue water boats with great success. On a trailer sailor where it can be easily washed and stored out of the sun it should last the ownership of the boat.

[@theresnobodyhere5778]

@@journeymanadventure yes i m sold on the idea,i have been gathering parts to add forward shrouds mast only has one set coming through spreader i m going add another just below spreader and take them forward i got u,bolts turnbuckles and was about to order stainless wire also adding stanchions and lifelines now i will do it all using dyneema ,thing about trailer sailers they dont have a season mostly used all year round if the weathers bright sunny in middle of january or any month you get sailing even if theres snow on the ground not like the big boats that get taken out onto the hard for winter and they wishing they had left them in water for longer but cost of lift outs and putting them in and out too expensive

[@journeymanadventure]

@@theresnobodyhere5778 yes I hear you there. Apart from being compact with regards to storage and uncomfortable in poor weather there is allot of positives to a trailerable sail boat. It could be my next move🏴‍☠️🍺

[@amaturemusicians]

any changes to your traveler system?

[@ruddyducksailing]

Yes it is finished. Just tested it last weekend and just need to edit footage to get a video out

[@phillycheesetake]

Most cruising sailboats should probably have synthetic rigging. Ignoring the weight, cost, and strength benefits, it's also infinitely more repairable even down the the tangs. If something goes wrong with steel rigging and you're halfway across an ocean, you're in trouble, with synthetic you can re-rig your entire boat and make spares ahead of time.

[@ruddyducksailing]

I totally agree. I think stainless will be used less and less until synthetic is the norm on every boat and not just high performance racers. Theres just too many benefits to dynemma to even consider re rigging with stainless. However if a crew member is trying to learn how to juggle with machetes on the foredeck then maybe stainless is the way to go!!

[@billfromgermany]

@@ruddyducksailing Nice point about the juggling😁 but as you know, the stuff is bloody difficult to cut, so unless he’s juggling Tantos then the rig is safe😂

[@GabSailsCaper]

The only thing stopping me from switching to dyneema on my cruising boat is that it's not suitable for cold weather sailing with an aluminum mast. The dyneema expands when cold while aluminum/stainless shrinks so changes in temperature would make your shrouds completely slack on cold days.

[@ruddyducksailing]

That would be a bummer. I haven’t experienced that at all though! I just finished a trip in 25f weather and the rigging was still tensioned like it was in 75f. Of course my boat is tiny and effects may be greater on a larger vessel. You’d have to talk to a qualified synthetic rigger to get the specs on temperature fluctuations.

[@GabSailsCaper]

@@ruddyducksailing yeah, I think it ends up being around a 4mm difference on a 50ft mast at 25f vs 85f. I'll be sailing into the negatives this year so I could easily double that haha Probably not a problem for over 95% of people lol

[@jeremyradawiec8919]

Did you consider 1/8th" AmSteel Blue? Why not?

[@ruddyducksailing]

I did consider 1/8” because it’s definitely strong enough but I thought the 3/16 would fit better around the terminals and low friction rings. I did use 1/8 for the lashings and it worked great

[@usdohs]

Do you have a dyneema headstay with a hank on jib? If so, have you had any chafe issues?

[@ruddyducksailing]

Yes I do. I also have soft shackles as hanks and they have not chafed at all in two years. My sailmaker assures me that standard hanks won’t chafe either

[@DrKnowNothing1]

@@ruddyducksailingI’ve heard when using hard hank on dyneema headstay the hanks need to be new (never before used on a metal headstay)

[@DrKnowNothing1]

@@ruddyducksailinghow about fueling headsails instead of hacked-on? Can a dyneema sty be used inside a furller? Or would you need some kind of special synthetic torsion-resistant line?

[@ruddyducksailing]

I would make sure there are no sharp edges on the hanks from wearing on the stainless forestay. If they are smooth and rounded they will be fine

[@ruddyducksailing]

I would check with the furler manufacturer but I believe it is not recommended to use a dyneema forestay in a furler.

[@matthiasletson-maddux1933]

Which terminals did you use at the shroud connections?

[@ruddyducksailing]

I used colligo lifeline terminals up the mast and antal rings ,lashings and colligo chainplate terminals at deck level!

[@scottweber3157]

What I want to know is, how has it changed the sailing characteristics without all that weight above you?

[@ruddyducksailing]

It changed quite a bit, and I was supprised. By removing weight up top the boat is more stable and sails flatter in strong winds making it so I can sail harder before reefing. It seems like I can maintain control in a couple more knots of wind because the rudder is still in the water and doing it’s job when we are heeling ( leaning). Thanks for asking

[@turk_dogan]

👍👍🙂

[@ruddyducksailing]

Thanks😁

[@almckegg7995]

The video is great, thanks. I see a couple of advantages to Dyneema you didn't mention (unless I missed it.) It's resistant, probably immune to bending. When you coil or handle stainless, you have to be careful not to bend it tightly near a swaged fitting or it will crimp. In time that crimp will turn into fractured metal strands and the shroud must be replaced. The Dyneema doesn't have to be coiled, just folded pretty much any way you want.

[@ruddyducksailing]

Thank you. You bring up a very good point! especially for a trailerable boat that sets up and takes down the rig so often it is nice to be able to stow the rig quickly without damaging it. I never liked having to coil or fasten the stainless wire to the mast, it didn't keep me off the water but it just wasn't as easy as synthetic!! thanks for watching!

[@billfromgermany]

I have read that you DO have to be careful with bending Dyneema, which is why one uses a thimble, rather than just taking it round eg a post. There is a recommendation that the radius shouldn’t be less than rope diameter x factor. Unfortunately I don’t have the factor to hand, but it can be googled. On the other hand, Dyneema is so strong that any loss of strength due to a tight bend may be irrelevant. Finally, there is a specialist form of Dyneema developed by Hampidjan of Iceland called Dynice. Developed for the fishing industry it is now really popular in high tech racing yachts as it takes the extreme strength of Dyneema and makes it even better. I believe that the process takes standard Dyneema and stretches it while heating.

[@nlfolco]

@@billfromgermanyThat's just while being under load. You don't have to worry about minimum radius if you're tossing your rigging in a bucket for the trip home from the lake.

[@billfromgermany]

@@nlfolco No, absolutely wrong! If it’s not coiled with a minimum radius of Rope diameter x pi x factor y, when you get home you’ll just have a bucket of fibers.

[@billfromgermany]

The rope is called Dynice Dux.

[@andrewcarpenter8274]

Say, 4:30 - 10:20ish, how the f do you even know how to even begin to know how to begin to even know how to do any of that?

[@SteelDoesMyWill]

You literally made every mistake anyone could possibly make rigging with Dyneema. You should probably do more testing and realize the issues (all of them) before posting videos that encourage others to waste money.

[@ruddyducksailing]

Please do explain! I would love to hear your opinion

[@SteelDoesMyWill]

@@ruddyducksailing u pointed out the use of heat annealed Dyneema, but didn't use it. The more you sail, the more that Amsteel will stretch until you have no tensioning room left. You spent the money on Colligo fittings, but not the heat-set Dyneema? I constantly have to deal with with people thinking they can use Amsteel because 'its cheaper', but they don't understand the long term issues trying to use it in standing rigging. Amsteel is great for running rigging, never for wire replacement. Also, Colligo makes great hardware, I use a ton of it.... but in the right places. Your upper terminations could be stainless HD investment cast thimbles at 1/3 the price of the Colligo terminators, use the Colligo's only at the Deadeye where you use the lashings. FYI, 'The Rigging Doctor', another 'expert' you should never take advice from... used Amsteel on his backstay. It stretched 3 feet... thats literally a mile when it come to standing rigging.

[@ruddyducksailing]

First off thank you for explaining your reasons as they are helpful. I've learned a long time ago theres always a better way to do something and strive to do things better each time. I will use the heat set dyneema next time and would recommend it to avoid stretch. I however reached a point where the Amsteel has stopped creeping and the tension has stayed the same for 6 months of sailing. Three feet of stretch is crazy!!! I guess time will tell on my rig. I only share my experiences because its what I know and my viewers were curious and questioning my setup quite often. I like your thimble idea, have you ever had any issues with point loading or the thimble distorting? That thought was why I went with terminals up top. Again thank you for sharing your knowledge and hopefully it will help someone to build their rig better than I built mine!!!

[@thosoz3431]

Doesn't sound like he's wasted any money to me. Its a dinghy for heavens sake. Further more he re rigs at every use so will constantly be inspecting all the rig.

[@SteelDoesMyWill]

@@thosoz3431 Its far from Dinghy, and in any spirited conditions it will create loads on the shrouds that are enough to stretch the line beyond what the tension will allow (deadeyes bottomed out and shrouds become loose). I've rigged boats as large as a 56 ft John Alden Ketch using 11 mm on the main mast, 7. mm on the mizzen - and as small as my Nacra 17 Beach Cat that uses 4mm (all of it is heat set).

[@robertgranger3123]

Great Video! THANKS

[@ruddyducksailing]

Absolutely. Thanks for watching

[@RustyKnorr]

Spends tons of money on Dyneema, uses a cheap piece of wire for splicing instead of using the proper tool. 🤦‍♂️

[@ruddyducksailing]

Lol

[@setkacagarro-blogspot-com]

Why not, that specialised splicing tool is expensive , when you could make it yourself

[@setkacagarro-blogspot-com]

And listen to the video, it was slightly more expensive than stainless wire

[@billfromgermany]

Actually he‘s using exactly the right tool. If you have any experience of splicing single braid Dyneema you‘d know that. Pushing a fid through is a lot more difficult than using a wire loop to pull the end through. Stainless welding wire comes in various diameters and is ideal for this. Bent into a hairpin, the the ends epoxied into a wood handle. Cost probably less than a dollar.

[@bobschick2943]

Great video, thanks!

[@ruddyducksailing]

Glad you liked it!