Out with the old!
After 7 years of hard labour our original plastic coated wire lifelines were looking the worse for wear. Some of the plastic had worn through exposing the wire and there there were rust stains where they go through the staunchions.
Rather than replace them with the same, we took inspiration from Starry Horizons and decided to replace these with Dyneema. Here is the link to Amy's blog post which was really helpful to get us started. We only replaced the side lifelines, the aft gates are looking ok so we left them in place.
After 7 years of hard labour our original plastic coated wire lifelines were looking the worse for wear. Some of the plastic had worn through exposing the wire and there there were rust stains where they go through the staunchions.
Rather than replace them with the same, we took inspiration from Starry Horizons and decided to replace these with Dyneema. Here is the link to Amy's blog post which was really helpful to get us started. We only replaced the side lifelines, the aft gates are looking ok so we left them in place.
Materials:
- 100m of 6mm silver-grey Dyneema for the lifelines. It was a whole roll which turned out to be cheaper than ordering it by the metre, plus lots left over for stuff ups and soft shackles.
- 10m of 3mm silver-grey Dyneema. This is for the lashings. This should have been more than enough, but I seem to have wasted alot!
- Welded Eye Bolts 8mm x 8. Thread length of 90mm. Included washer and nut.
- 1.5m x 8mm Dyneema chafing sleeve to provide protection through staunchions etc.
Some of the tools
Tools (from top to bottom):
- Splicing needle for making the bury
- Sharpie/texta for marking the line for the splice
- Seamstress' measuring tape
- Conical fid for making the eye splices
- Very sharp knife
- Cutting board (not shown)
- Hot knife for cutting chafe sleeve (not shown)
My first splice
I have never spliced rope before so it took a little trial and error. I went through a few confusing videos and blog posts before found this one on You Tube (below) which is nice and clear.
Once I had done one it made much more sense and I could do it quite quickly.
Not a bad effort if I do say so myself.
I have never spliced rope before so it took a little trial and error. I went through a few confusing videos and blog posts before found this one on You Tube (below) which is nice and clear.
Once I had done one it made much more sense and I could do it quite quickly.
Not a bad effort if I do say so myself.
The Process
The first step was to make the first splice. I measured for a 5cm loop and 30cm (50 x diameter) for the tail or bury.
I decided it was best to attempt one of the lower lifelines first, as these are less critical than the top ones. I didn't expect my first attempt to be my best!
The installation process went something like this:
Definitely a 2 person job and it does get easier!
I decided it was best to attempt one of the lower lifelines first, as these are less critical than the top ones. I didn't expect my first attempt to be my best!
The installation process went something like this:
- Remove the old lifeline by unscrewing the existing connectors. Place them somewhere in the forepeak junk collection area, as you never know when they might come in handy...
- Install the new eye bolt at the forward staunchion.
- Measure the approximate length of Dyneema required by temporarily attaching spliced end to the eye bolt and running the line to the aft connection point, (allowing for the splice and bury of course). As I had plenty of line to play with this first measurement was fairly rough and erred on the excessive side.
- Cut the Dyneema with the sharp knife. Dont use a hot knife or you will have a hard end which will be hard to get through the chafe guard and staunchions. Initially I used electrical tape to stop the cut end from fraying, but found this was a pain when it came to burying the tail, and then it left a sticky residue when removed.
- Cut 3-4cm lengths of chafe guard (one per staunchion, and one for the "blow back" line (see last picture below) at the side stay).
- Attach the spliced Dyneema to the forward eye bolt, looping the end of the line back through the splice.
- Thread the Dyneema through each staunchion adding a piece of chafe guard for each one, as you go
- Once the Dyneema is through the last staunchion, pull it as tight as you possibly can before measuring the final length. Note: The Dyneema will stretch so err on the side of being shorter rather than longer or you may have to redo the splice (ask me how I know). At full stretch I would say no more than 1/4-1/3 of the distance between the last staunchion and the aft attachment point. Fold the Dyneema back on itself at this point and measure the 5cm for the splice plus the 30cm for the tail. Mark and cut the line at this point with the sharp knife.
- To give yourself more line to work with to make the aft splice, detach the forward eye bolt. This will allow you to pull through some more line so you can sit on the back step and do the aft splice.
- Reattach the forward eye bolt, work any twists out of the Dyneema and reposition the chafe guards.
- I allowed about 1m of 3mm Dyneema for each lacing and left this bit to Keith as he could pull this alot tighter than me. I tied the lacing to the aft eye-bolt with a bowline and he did the rest. As you can see he has looped the line through 4-5 times before securing it with several half-hitches.
- Repeat with the other 3 life-lines.
- Over the next few days & weeks the lashings were undone and lifelines re-tightened again as they do stretch, particularly if you attach things like fenders or furling lines to them.
Definitely a 2 person job and it does get easier!
