Dyneema rigging vs s. steel

[Pjazz]

Hi folks, just broke my forestay... anybody out there using Dyneema rigging for forestay or shrouds?

p.s: I have an old DN, use it only for cruising around. Old straight alu mast. Old style mast hound. I find that the rigging thimble and swage type ends tend to fail rather quickly. Can you suggest an alternative for a limited budget guy, out of a job waiting out the Covid crisis?

Thx, regards, Pierre J.

[DN 5449]

Go with 5 mm Dyneema,put some loop splices in it.Use a thimble or splice a cover over the loop.Shackle it on and your good to go.

[Chad Atkins]

I've tried... it will creep and stretch for sure. HSR or annealed dyneema helps. If you have some splicing background adjustable eyesplices can help if you start running out of throw or range.
   Best, Chad

[DN 5449]

Chad have you tried pre stretching it before using.I think the biggest stretch comes from the splice itself.
Also I would think there would be very little stretching or creeping on the side shrouds.Probably could get away with 2.5 mm side shrouds.
Nice easy economical way of running rigging for a cruiser.

[wnethercote]

If you are getting repeated failures near the swages or nicopress sleeves you may need a toggle on the end.

Don't most riggers have a junk barrel?  I've found really good stuff in the dumpster at my soft water club.  You just need to get over the embarrassment of dumpster diving - it wears off when the wire if free. 

[Paul Goodwin - US 46]

I'm not sure where you are going wrong in your rigging.  My old school rigging used Nicro Press compression sleeves with thimbles, and joined together using a heavy duty shackle at the mast.  I have only failed DN rigging once, when a Nicro Press on the forestay pulled though the Nicro Press sleeve.  The forestay on a DN has so much load that I started using double sleeves and never had another problem.  Do make sure you using a large enough gage wire.

My new rigging uses marine swaged ends, and I've sailed with the same rigging for at least 20 years.    If you are using marine or aircraft swaged cable ends there should be provision for the fork or eye to have freedom of motion at the mast.  As Warren mentioned use toggles.  At the bottom end it doesn't really matter.  The forestay needs some form of length adjustment, but does not need a toggle at the bottom.  My side stays have a swaged fork at the bottom and attach directly to the tang on the plank - no length adjustment or toggle.  this is not for everyone, most people like something adjustable to fiddle with, but for me it just adds complication.

Paul Goodwin