Well, I'm coming upon 2 years with the Dyneema rig on the boat. I've put countless hours on it, and lots of high wind use. There is virtually no wear on the system and if it has stretched I cant tell. I check it periodically with a loos gauge about once ever 2 months. I replaced my diamond wires 3 months before my shrouds and forestay. They are already showing rust in the swages and are coming on time for replacement in the next year or so. There is by comparison no wear on the shrouds, minus very minimal fuzz (barely visible).
Now for how u use this rig. As many of you know I'm mostly a single hand sailor, and as such I look for strength as well as ease of use. This rig uses a 3:1 lashing line with a stopper knot system to keep the rig under tension. Per the large loos gauge I am putting just short of 500lbs tension on the shrouds just by clipping in my harness and pulling the lashing line to the stops. Because of the extra length of the lashing line I am also able to lean the rig 15 to 20* forward for mast stepping as well as canting the rig for racing point to point racing on a single tack much like a wind surfer.
Up top is the only place that I have found any sign of wear (minor fuzz), and that is where the shroud touches on the hound of the mast while trailering. I have fixed that by putting tape on the shroud where it hangs while trailering to provide some chafe coverage. There is also some minor wear on the sail maker thimbles that hold the shroud in the mast head shackle, but none on the actual shroud. I may press in a new thimble in the next year to give extra protection, but once again this is not a major issue and should last for years more even if I dont touch it. I also plan on putting a smaller hound about 6 inches above the main hound to move my trap wires higher and off the same shackle as the shrouds and eliminate a other possibility of wear
From looking at the rigging life of other vessels that are running similar rigs, I expect about 10 years life from the rig, and possibly longer. I will continue to update as I use the boat. In terms of performance, I can get the rig tighter than wire and rigging is much easier. While under sail, the rig transfer of power is a little more immediate as the rope does not stretch as we have sized it for under way loads being less than 20% of the lines breaking strength. We also expect the rig to not wear from duty cycles as the boat is taken down after every sail. It took 3 sails for the rig to settle to final tension, and it has not moved since.
I'll be glad to answer any questions on the boat/rig, and it can be found at
https://www.colligomarine…cts/beach-cat-shroud-set
For the future of this project, I plan on going to a soft forestay as well made from 9mm torque rope. This will be sized for stretch as is the rest of the rig. This will allow me to eliminate the hated Prinde ring and hook halyard for the jib as well as another point of failure.
Thanks for reading, and again I'm not paid by Colligo Marine, just letting them use my boat for testing.
Edited by cholley12 on Apr 09, 2020 - 07:58 PM.
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Captain Chris Holley
Fulshear, TX
'87 Prindle 19 "¡Hijole!"
'74 sunfish "1fish"
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