Hi All, I recently purchased my first beach cat, a Nacra 5.8 and am very excited to get out on the water. I'm looking into replacing most if not all of the running rigging since the lines are old and quite stiff. Being a recreational sailor who might eventually be interested in racing, what caliber of line(s) should I be looking at? I want them to last a while but also want good performance without spending a ton of money (though I would be willing). I've been looking at New England Ropes STA, STA-X, VPC, ect Thoughts?

Sta-set for all halyards, rudders, up/down hauls, jib sheet....basically sta-set for everything except the main sheet, for which I prefer fancy stuff. I buy tons of 3/16" sta-set every winter, and it gets used one way or another.

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Rob
OKC
Pile of Nacra parts..
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Dacron Spun Braid no bigger than 3/8" for the mainsheet and jibsheet. Soft and fuzzy on your hands. All the lines have to be a different colour so they can be sorted out of the spaghetti on the trampoline.

Depends on what you are willing to spend. Sta-set works great and is the first choice for most sailors. You can't argue with the performance versus price ratio.

That beings said I absolutely LOVE my no stretch tech lines. One nice thing about them is that they don't get saturated when the are submerged or splashed. All my controls are VPC but New England Salsa has better hand feel and is the choice of most racers these days. I also have some New England Flight Line for my barber haulers which is super light and has extremely good hand feel.

I used to lace my tramp and run my jib wires with 1/4" Yale Vectrus, but the pure vectran tends to fray so I have since switched to Paraloc -Stingray. Stingray is pure dyneema but the weave makes it stay round and a grip thread makes it easy to tighten. It does creep a tiny bit under load but that's pretty easy to tighten up half way through the season. It is also discontinued to you can get it cheap at APS on closeout http://www.apsltd.com/c-4751-line.aspx

All my halyards are now Paraloc - Piranha, again it holds it's shape really well and I got a good deal on closeout from APS.

Probably out of all of these the best place to use a high tech is in the halyards and tramp lacing where stretch is a real issue. For the control lines you won't notice the stretch as much so feel and comfort is really important. Sta-set is a good choice but so a high tech blend like Salsa or VPC - the really high tech lines are a waste of money for most of us. For the main halyard you will notice the stretch of a poly line like sta set and you may find raising your sail easier with a dyneema or vectran line (my old poly halyard would stretch like 2-3 feet when raising the mast). For halyards and tramp lacing you really want a line that has good grip, is really strong, holds its shape and doesn't stretch. Any dyneema or vectran blend will work for this but you really want a diameter of 1/4" or less if possible. The pure vectran or dyneema single braides aren't really the best choice for anything that you need to adjust as they tend to fray and flatten badly with handling.

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Dave Bonin
1981 Nacra 5.2 "Lucile"
1986 Nacra 5.7 "Belle"
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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I do use vectran for my tramp lacing...given the chance I'd switch it to dyneema (as it feels less 'slick'), but I like the lack of creep for the tramp.

As for your halyards, I would definitely go sta-set for your main, as it's got a hook. You don't need a line that costs more to lift a sail and lower it. The lack of stretch is nice if the halyard is holding the sail up, but unnecessary otherwise IMO.

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Rob
OKC
Pile of Nacra parts..
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Wow thanks for all the info! A lot was clarified reading through you replies. It looks like sta-set will work well for some of the lines and will drive the cost down. I like the idea of something a bit nicer for the main and jib sheets. I'll let you know what I end up choosing. Thanks again for the knowledge. -BP

I guess I never said, but I use 5/16" sta-set for the jib sheet, as it's actually not handled that much, and it stays on the boat in the sun all summer.

I use Salsa tapered to vectran for my main (and I just made another main for my 5.5 that's yale phd tapered to dyneema.)

I've got 3 or 4 of the different dyneema blended single braids, and I like Salsa the best by a long shot due to its soft feel.

I also learned the hard way why you don't taper a large size of a blended line to a smaller size of the same line.

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Rob
OKC
Pile of Nacra parts..
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Truthfully, you can get away with Sta-set for all your lines. But there is something to be said for the feel of the salsa line for sure. For the casual sailor like me, the tech lines are just a neat extra - kind of like having extra chrome on a car.

Tapered mains are great especially for light winds - they are much quicker and easier to let out and the run through the blocks so much faster. I wouldn't go any larger than 3/8" for the main sheet, some people used to use 7/16" but really that was for spun dacron that would stretch and thin out under load, the 3/8" is a much better choice for hand feel and speed. Some are even going to a 5/16" main sheet but becase the tech lines are so strong now most are going to a 3/8" main tapered down ot 1/4" (or even smaller) line that goes through most of the blocks. I'm planning to get one made up but can't really justify it this year after buying a new downhaul, roller furling jib/snorkel and a set of wings.

I have heard that some people are going to 1/4" jib sheets but I haven't tried it yet.

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Dave Bonin
1981 Nacra 5.2 "Lucile"
1986 Nacra 5.7 "Belle"
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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I've used a 1/4" sta-set jib sheet before, and on my boat (not sure which boat it was at the time) it was horrible. The load from the sail made it impossible to uncleat the 1/4" line. The smaller lines really bite in the cleats.

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Rob
OKC
Pile of Nacra parts..
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Well there you go, stick with 5/16" for the jib sheet.

One other thing that should be obvious but may not be (wasn't to me at first). Make sure that all of your lines are different colors. i.e. jib sheet, barberhauler line, main sheet and downhauls should all be different colors. I would even go so far to say that even the halyards as well as the helm and crew trap lines should be color coded. There is nothing worse than getting your sheets and lines mixed up in the heat of the moment. And just because your downhaul is 1/4" and you main sheet is 3/8" diameter doesn't mean you won't screw it up on occasion. Believe me. :)

D.



Edited by Wolfman on May 01, 2011 - 05:05 PM.

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Dave Bonin
1981 Nacra 5.2 "Lucile"
1986 Nacra 5.7 "Belle"
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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Its funny but I have grabbed the wrong halyard many times, now my jib halyard is 3/16 blue sta set.

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Nacra 5.2
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/agree with both of the above. I even use a uniquely colored traveler sheet, tied to the main.

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Rob
OKC
Pile of Nacra parts..
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I use the Robline racing sheet for my main and I love it. Similar to the Salsa line, both are very nice.

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Scott,
‘92 H18 w/SX wings
‘95 Hobie Funseeker 12 (Holder 12)
‘96/‘01/‘14 Hobie Waves
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