Issues with synthetic rigging?

[John Stone]

Stumble, true enough. But, for some it's not that simple. I have dyneema life lines--and I like them. I incorporates a dux forestay for my stays'l so I could gain some personal experience with dux. So far, it has held up well in the tropics for the past three months. I've had it on the boat for 9 months. All that time with bronze hanks for the stays'l. No complaints. I briefly considered going with dux for all my standing rigging while building the new mast for my 8 ton bermuda rigged cutter. I liked the whole idea, especially the ease of splicing and the lighter weight. But, as I recall I had to go with 5/8" turnbuckles as I needed 9mm dux when sized for creep. Have you priced them lately? Yow! The rig is too big for dead eyes. When I priced it all out the whole dux setup was nearly three times the cost of 7x7 316 SS that I spliced myself and that did not include the price of the bigger turnbuckles delux required. I expect to see very little work hardening in the standing rigging with Liverpool splices around bronze thimbles. I think I should be able to get 10 good years out of the 7x7. I can see any sign of fatigue in my rigging pretty easily. That is not to say that it's perfect. I do like dux and it may well be the way of the future. It was just more than I could afford at the time and way more than what I ultimately went with. In time, I think dux will get less expensive. I also was not completely confident in how it would hold up over time and my ability to recognize when it needed to be replaced. How does one really know? I would never rule dux out though. I particularly like the new EHLF dux furling system Colligo is selling. Very cool. I'd love to have a test rig of dux on my boat that I could swap out with my current standing rigging setup and compare the performance and ease of tuning. That would be very interesting.

I would also say I have had nothing but great experience with John Franta and Colligo.