Day Sailor Life Lines

[Essington]

I've replaced the standing rigging, and sails on my Spirit 6.5 this year, and now I've turned my attention to the life lines. They are the plastic coated wire kind, but the plastic is cracking off.

The existing lines have a turnbuckle up front, and a gate hook at the back, with no intervening hardware. There are two stanchions between the bow and stern, but the back stanchion doesn't have any kind of bracing for a gate hinge.

I would like to replace these with HM lines of some sort, but I've got a couple of questions.

Is it reasonable to just splice a loop on the front end (ring hitch to the bow) and ring hitch to a gate hook on the back? Will the gate hook take up enough slack over the life of the lines (if I perform the splices correctly) or should I add an adjuster or turnbuckle up front as well?

I don't suppose there is any reason to bother with the extra gate hardware since my stanchions aren't braced to support the forward lifelines while the gate is open anyway?

I was looking at Amsteel, and Endura 12 as my options, and noticed that the Endura was less expensive by about 25% (based upon the prices in my marine catalog), but then while searching on the internet I found that Samson makes Amsteel Blue (the color matches the trim on my boat), and that is stronger yet. It also seems to be a very popular replacement for winch cables on 4 wheel drive vehicles. Now, based upon the prices in the marine catalog, I was expecting something on the order of $2/ft for 1/4" or $2.75/ft for 5/16", but the off-road stores are selling pre-made winch cables of Amsteel Blue for half of the per foot prices found in the marine catalog!

What's the deal? Where is the best place to buy rope? How about the Johnson Fittings? At the prices listed for the Amsteel Blue winch cables, Is it reasonable to just buy one of those and cut off the winchy bits, then cut my lengths as needed from there?

Any thoughts or suggestions would certainly be welcome

-jason

[osteoderm]

Instead of a hitch or a turnbuckle, consider a simple lashing; adjustable, light, and in blue line would also match the boat...

[Essington]

oooh! I hadn't thought of the lashing route.

Would a 2mm or 3mm polyester double braid be sufficient for that, or should I use something like Spyderline with a dyneema core?

How about the eyes on the life lines? if I use the lashing, do I need to add a thimble to the splice?

[michelg]

Hello,

I've just completed doing this on my Tanzer 22. The Tanzer has a cabintop handrail at the aft end of the cabin (front end of the cockpit) which is where the cabintop lifelines terminate, as well as the cockpit lifelines. So I needed four sections.

I used 3/16" Amsteel (the gray stuff) which cost me cdn$0.95 per foot. Terminations in my setup, first for the cabintop (fixed) lifelines:

- Ring hitch to the eye on the pulpit. Make the eye large enough to pass the stanchions through, or you'll need to use a lashing or a shackle or something.

- Eye with thimble at the aft end, attached to the handrail with a lashing, terminated with french hitching.

The cockpit lifelines (with a shackle) are more complicated:

- Fixed shackle (i.e. no swivel) with a metal thimble, this clips on to the cabintop handrail and releases for access to the cockpit.

- Once again, eye with a thimble at the aft end, attached with a lashing and french hitching.

Some "gotchas" that may save you some grief:

- All my splices were Mobius Brummels with a tapered bury, one yarn extracted (like a marker yarn in the double-braid eyesplice) and used to lock-stitch the splice.

- The Splicing Wand makes life much easier. I've done close to 20 splices in the past week, replacing my running rigging and lifelines. I figure I've got my money's worth .

- If splicing on a closed shackle with a Mobius Brummel, you NEED to have access to both ends of the line. You can't do the funny collapse-the-eye-and-it-reappears trick that Brion mentions in the Apprentice and Book 5. It's a long bit of line to pull through, but there's no way around it. Also, make sure you do this BEFORE splicing a thimble into the other end. Guess how I figured this out?

- Ring hitches in Amsteel may tend to open up a bit if there's no tension on them, altering the overall length a bit. For this reason, I only used one on the fixed lifeline. I have a thimble at both ends of the removable cockpit lifeline.

- Exact lengths are very difficult to splice, at least for me. I sized my Amsteel lifelines about 6" shorter than the vinyl-covered-stainless ones, and they still ended up only about 2" short of the length I require. Having them a bit short allows you to fine-tune the length using a lashing at one end. If you splice them too long, you've got a problem. Cutting off the eyesplice (with a 48- or 72-diameter bury) will leave them too short to do another splice, so you're then looking at buying a whole new length of amsteel for that side of the boat.

- I saw no reason to go with the fancy Johnson hardware. A lashing is as adjustable as a turnbuckle, costs less, and weighs less. As for the gate hardware, I couldn't justify usd$50 each for an over-center snap shackle with swivel. My lifelines don't rotate , so I figured a strong-enough fixed shackle would work just as well.

Hope this helps,

Michel Goudeseune
Tanzer 22 #2104 "Brave and Crazy"
http://tanzer22.org/

[Brion Toss]

Howdy,
And congratulations on developing a lifeline protocol that works. This is a new field for a lot of people, and I'm sure your words will help others. Thanks also for the kind words on the Wand.
It is possible to Brummel the second thimble into place; just make the eye a taste loose, and stitch it closed later, after you have barely forced the thimble in.
We prefer Endura, and at least 1/4", just to give it more life in the sun (cheaper in the long run). And 5/16" lasts forever, and is nicest to fetch up against, should you need to.
For those with gates, the Johnson hardware is great stuff.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

[t4t0nk4]

When using Endura or Amsteel, you are talking about naked line? correct?
How or what about abrasion resistance when passed through the stanchion or ring?

I am just beginning my lifeline replacement project thanks to my neighbor's docking skills.
(that's all I'm saying)

brian bennett
s/v Dream Catcher

[Brion Toss]

Hello,
We have done covered lifelines, but it's a bit more complicated, especially given the hole sizes in typical stanchions.
If you are even remotely concerned about chafe, and even if you're not, always check for smoothness in the stanchion eyes before installation. Relieve any sharp edges obsessively. Once that's done, you can always splice on short bits of rope cover in the way of the stanchions, if they'll fit, or a layer or two of heat-shrink tubing. Both options require adding to the lifeline before the second splice. The heat-shrink requires being quite ginger with the temperature, so you don't melt the Spectra.
Having said that, I've seen some old Spectra lifelines,through some rough stanchion holes, with no appreciable signs of chafe.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

[t4t0nk4]

Thanks for the reply!

How much loss of strength in the line if I use ring hitches? My stanchions have rings welded to them as opposed to a through hole.

The gates will be interesting. If I use 72 x dia. bury, that will be at or greater than the width of the gate assuming 5/16" or 1/4" line.

brian bennett
s/v Dream Catcher