Steering lines KM???

[Guest]

A friend of mine in Fiji (Jim from Rag of the Air who pacific cruisers might know) is building a workboat with the old but reliable rope & drum steering. He has had issues with chafe on his other boat when using spectra. What type/brand would be best for this use?

[Guest]

here is the setup on an americas cup boat. from what i can remember it is dyneema or vectran (KM?)

[Guest]

Most big boats use Dyneema but some use Vectran. Some is naked, some covered and some covered with a real tight pic cover which makes it wire like but a bit tuffer.

 

Your mates chafe issue sounds more like a chafe issue than a product used issue. Chafe isn't that fussy what rope it chews up and is very much a equally opportunity rope fecker

 

Brand won't make bugger all difference, all are basically the same thing and are made from the yarn all build in the same factory.

 

He'd be best to just make sure all the lines can run cleanly so as to avoid the chafe in the 1st place. Use Dyneema or Vectran, that just takes the stretch and continuing need to re tension them out.

 

That make sense??

[Guest]

It looks a bit wet down there JH - where is your sponge and bucket?

[Guest]

Thanks for that. The chafe I saw on one of his boats was in way of a good quality block which is strange. I thought there might be something with a tougher cover.

20 knots right on the nose today and barely 1/2 mile between reefs to tack so we managed to find a bay with cell service for the internet fix.

Will be in NZ soon to deliver a boat up here, getting my shopping list together so expect a visit Grant.