Trapeze Line vs. Wire

Every boat I've every sailed on with a wire trapeze has hooks. Replaced wire on my Inter 20 with 1/8" Spectra and couldn't be happier. We're sailors, not fishermen. Get rid of the fish hooks.

Bruce

A guy from our club is changing all the wires on his hobie Tiger for some vectran or something composi mumbo jumbo line. Load capacity specs are higher than steel wires, and they weight a lot less. We still have to see him sail though...

He even changed the forestay and the sidestays!!!

Funny thing is it costs more to do the ends with the metal loops ( épissures en français ) than all the line lenghts...

I'll keep you informed about how it's holding, our water spot is not of a forgiving nature.

Philippe

I17R incoming..................

Ex Prindle 16

There's a feller I race with who uses Spectra for his trap lines. It broke in one race last year due to abrasion (he managed to get back on the boat in time to win the race, though, the bastard :-).

Spectra and its relatives may have a higher ultimate tensile strength then steel, but they're not as tough, and their abrasion resistance is *much* lower. I would be extremley cautious about using it where failure would be catastrophic (such as shrouds and forestay). Even for trap lines, you should examine them closely before each outing, and replace as soon as you see wear.

Remember Flight 587 - be careful with composites.

Pete

I've had my I20 for 2 years now, and we still don't have any meathooks on our trap wires. Even on previous boats I've owned, I never had any serious problems with hooks in the trap wires/shrouds.......It seems to me that you could replace your trap wires every 3 years (you ARE replacing your shrouds that often, aren't you?), and have minimal problems with meathooks. I assume that synthetic line trap wires would have to be replaced at least every 3 years also due to chafe and/or UV degredation.

All in all, I don't really see a big advantage to ditching the wire. Am I missing something?

Alan Thompson

I20 - San Diego

been using 3 mm dyneema line for 3 years now and it hasn;t failed or chaffed yet.

Trick to lines is to do it right. There are two rules to line which are taking from power kiting.

-1- Almost every knot reduces the line strength by some 40 to 50 %. So you fisherhitches and bolins to reduce the reduction, these two knots have the smallest reduction and a Fishers hitch results in two line running our a shackle so 200 % * 50 % = 100 % again.

-2- Use small shackles to attach the lines to the mast. A simple fishers hitch will be enough to attach the line to the dogbones.

Use also a figure 8 knot tho rest the trapeze handle on.

Advantage of line :

-1- Cheaper and alot simpler to replace.

-2- hangs straigh down and doesn;t slap around in wind or waves even with small diameter bungees attached to them

-3- doesn't rub against the battenpockets as much as wires do this practicallty eliminates batten pocket wear in the mainsail. Repairing these pockets is expensive,

Quite a few crews have been using these for several years now. Don't worry just trust the line. Just make sure you use proper high strength line.

however Consensus is that the standing rigging should still be wires and not lines.

Wouter

Wouter

Would switching from the issued wire trap lines to cord violate any class rules? I know that we were gigged for having too many grommet holes on our tramp, and I don' t know if I saw anything about changing wire to cordage in the books (but again, I wasn't really looking for that)...

Steve,I finally got my FX-One and took it for a sail fri...the trap lines work just fine and Im 6-1 235.....so I know its really srtong.....whatever happend to your mast problem.....mine has no comptip......the dealer orderd the mast through Hobie Europe......Im really having a ball with mine......

Hi Vicatman,

Another FX-One owner besides me (Jim Glanden) has chafed through his trap lines at the sidestay thimble. He used a shackle to fix the problem. I used a stainless steel ring and 6 inches of electrical shrink tubing below it. I haven't had a problem since. Image below or at:

http://www.ofoto.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?UV=913270647033_78048401503&US=0&collid=28820976403

My mast is the correct length now. (It was also all aluminum from Europe, but was just the wrong length). The more I use the boat, the more I like it. I think it sails faster, and definitely smoother with the jib and two people on it. I'm only 150 lbs and my occasional crew is 135lbs. I would supsect at 235lbs, you can sail the boat fairly smooth. I tend to bounce on the water rather than cut through it when sailing solo. It's a nice boat - I hope it becomes more popular in the USA.