Re Rigging a schooner with SS7x7 Nicopress

[pelorus32]

Originally Posted by Bosco

Just a quick comment but soft eyes on the mast sorta/kinda makes me think Dynex Dux... It would certainly be my first choice for a Colvin Gazelle.

Whilst I don't know the Colvin designs so I won't comment on using it for this boat, I do have a view about heat set Dyneema. I'm currently putting my money where my mouth is and having a 32 foot Lyle Hess cutter re-rigged in heat set Dyneema.

I've been watching the material for about 5-6 years and I've looked at some lovely rigging jobs done with it. I think it's got to the stage that the brave and adventurous souls have done the development work; we know a lot about this material and the best way to use it; we know about it's behaviour in different circumstances...It's no longer pioneering stuff. As someone who had re-rigged a large boat with it said to me when I asked whether I should use heat set Dyneema: "You're asking the wrong question. The right question is "why would you ever use anything else"". Accepting some hyperbole, there's a lot of truth in that.

My comments would be: First you have more choices in heat set Dyneema than Dynex Dux. Look around and ask advice. Second - use a product with an over braid, sized for the core. Third - whilst, on the face of it, this material looks like a DIY godsend, I reckon it's the same as most other stuff: use professional help to get it right.

Perhaps Joe H or Brion have a view on using it for this vessel. It does sound intuitively sensible for soft eyes...