Synthetic Searunner San Carlos Sonora

[jmolan]

I know this is a forum where it looks like synthetics are nothing new. With that in mind I wanted to see if I could post a few photos of a 30 year old "Woodie" getting a new rig here in San Carlos Mexico.
My boat is a 34' Searunner Trimaran. Has the double spreader cutter rig. It was previously rigged with 1/4" and 7/32" SS wire. I used mostly 7mm Dynex Dux. I used 9mm on the headstay and staysail stay as I originally thought I would be using bronze hanks. I have used Dux for 6 or so years in commercial fishing, and I have seen it take some horrible abuse, the kind of treatment you would think would destroy it, but it does not. I am pretty confident the bronze hanks would be "no problema" But I see now I may have the option of soft hanks which look great.
The boat has a lot of wires. Headstay, Backstay, Running backs, staysail set up with a Highfield lever, babystays fwd. and aft. Double spreaders etc. A rig designed to be very robust and reliable to get you out to the boonies and back.
I took all the wire off and weighed it at 50 lbs. There is a shot of me holding the entire new rig with fittings at 15 lbs. I did all the splicing myself on Colligo eyes.
On the Highfield it took some fooling around but I managed to get the rovings to "roll" the fitting 90 degrees by the way they were run between the two fittings.
I had to modify the lever a bit (grinding and filing) and used a Precourt fitting because they are smaller with a pin epoxied in to make a good adaption.
All in all it has been a great fun project. We splash tomorrow....

[catsketcher]

Hello

This looks very good for trailer sailers. I sometimes have problems with the wires getting kinked on trailers and such during launchings. My jib headstay often gets kinked which is not good at all for the wire. You are obviously an experienced seaman with your fishing experience but is the rigging within the reach of an amateur? Are the splices easy? What about UV degradation?

cheers

Phil Thompson

[jmolan]

This looks very good for trailer sailer's. I sometimes have problems with the wires getting kinked on trailers and such during launchings. My jib headstay often gets kinked which is not good at all for the wire.
Yes the stuff is very easy to handle, it coils like rope, maybe a stiff rope, but very light and easy on the hands. I know the corsair and F-boats are all over this stuff.

You are obviously an experienced seaman with your fishing experience but is the rigging within the reach of an amateur? Are the splices easy? What about UV degradation?

To replace fittings and eliminate turnbuckles I think I came in cheaper than going with wire. I now Colligo has a cost comparison on the website about it. I recently talked with Colligo and they are just now getting some 5mm Dux which will probably suit your trailer boat better. You can go to Sailing Anarchy they talk about trailer trimarans and synthetics

http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/ind...owtopic=82437d

Colligo can answer many of your questions also if I miss out here

http://www.colligomarine.com/Colligo.../Dynex-Dux.htm

The splices are not hard once you get a few under your belt. I did my entire rig in 11 hours over two different days. It was 25 eye splices. But I have done a lot of them before this. Really better to practice on some Dynex smaller stuff. Here is a good link for the splices.

http://www.multimarine.com/tipsdetail.php?id=7

So far no boat has recycled any Dux that we know of because of UV problems. It has not been around long enough to get a 5 or 8 year testing. I did hear of a two year test and there was 20% lower breaking. Some have speculated that there looks like a coating gets formed on the outside and they are thinking the degradation will slow down, but only time will tell. It is far and away better than many of the earlier generation ropes.
cheers

Remember "it's a pleasure boat"...

Phil Thompson[/quote]

[catsketcher]

I will get stuck into the links you gave. I would very much like to use this on my next cat which will need a rig in about 6 months.

cheers

Phil

[jmolan]

Phil, I see you are in Australia.

I know Mike at Strongrope Aust. would be a good contact. He has rigged his own boat with Dux and many others, and his work covers all kinds of boats and looks very nice. He used regular turnbuckles on his own boat, and reports after a year of having to take up one turn on the the shrouds is all. With the Colligo Terminators you have the option of using turnbuckles or adding the bottom (the distributor) and lacing it dead eye style.

His own personal boat can be seen at :

http://www.strongrope.com/news.htm

http://www.strongrope.com/aboutus.htm

[jmolan]

I have udate some photos at:

http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ner/?start=all

Having too much fun!