I plan on using 5/16" and 3/8" buff polyester (three strand) for the running rigging on my Haven. What size would you recommend for lashing the sails and mast hoops to the spars? The buff polyester starts at 1/4".....I was thinking this would be the correct size. If you are interested in this three strand rope, I have found a source at R&W Enterprises and the number is 1-800-260-8599.
Wood B. Good
1/4" is pretty big for that purpose on a boat that size. I think I'd lean more toward something in the 1/8" range. Brion Toss Rigging has some nice tarred stuff and untarred (white) in three strand. You can also use 1/8" Dacron Leech line and a lot of people use Nylon parachute cord because it's cheap and readily available. If you dunk white cord in a coffee can of naptha with a couple tabelspoons of brown oil-based wood stain mixed into it, you can make your own buff colored line.
Senior Member
Standardize on one size of rope. Either one will dol. Take a look at New England Rope's spun dacron -- it looks like old fashioned cotton yacht line.Originally posted by Paul:
I plan on using 5/16" and 3/8" buff polyester (three strand) for the running rigging on my Haven. What size would you recommend for lashing the sails and mast hoops to the spars? The buff polyester starts at 1/4".....I was thinking this would be the correct size. If you are interested in this three strand rope, I have found a source at R&W Enterprises and the number is 1-800-260-8599.
Thanks for the advise....I will go with 1/8" for the lashings and 5/16" for all the other line. I think I will go with the spun dacron.....is there much stretch associated with this type line?
Trying to be reasonable
Spun dacron 3-strand stretches about 5% at 15% of breaking strength. The continuous filament stuff stretches about 4%, and is significantly stronger too, so stretch for equivalent load would be quite a bit less, although the spun fibers feel nicer. One obvious point is that if you want less elongation for a given load, going to a somewhat larger diameter is a reasonable alternative to "modern" less-stretchy rope, although you'll never get down to the range of exotic fibers like Vectran or Spectra. 3-strand will stetch a bit, say one or two percent, even under fairly light load.
New England Ropes has a good web site:
http://www.neropes.com/pleasure_marine/default.htm
[This message has been edited by Keith Wilson (edited 08-09-2001).]
I used 1/8 inch for lashing. If you standardize on the halyards and such you might as well just buy a spool of the 5/16 then you will not be trying to cut it close on length. By the time I was done I wished I had just bought a spool.
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