Dyneema/Amsteel Forestay

[Dustymc]

How is your Dyneema forestay/babystay/solent stay/whatever attached and tensioned? Pictures and part numbers most appreciated....

FWIW, I'm being recommended this thing



by one rigger, a T-ball fitting with one of these...



by another, (how would I hook something like a Colligo terminator to THAT?), T-balls and Tylaska shackles by Colligo (??), and the ONE live example I found walking the docks uses more duct tape than I'm entirely comfortable with....

[tamicatana]

From whom are you purchasing the forestay, which incidentally better be a heat-treated fibre, and Amsteel isn't that. You want Dux or something like...

...in any case, I'd at least go with Colligo, who is in the textile rigging biz

[Dustymc]

I'm going to use that yellow rope from Wal-Mart - I hear it's easy to splice.....

In what ways would Dux be better than Amsteel Blue for this application? It's a little smaller diameter, so that's nice. It's arguably (given the diameter) more abrasion-resistant, but this will be a hopefully-seldom-used stay which can literally be replaced in a half hour. There's the creep thing, but this thing will spend most of it's life not under tension, and attached by an easily-adjustable device. I'll probably order the Dux, instead of going to any of the dozen or so local places that stock Amsteel, because that seems to be what the cool kids have, but I really don't see any reason why a lot of other materials wouldn't work just fine in this application.

Now can you post some pictures of your terminations, please?

[salticrak]

It's dark out, but I have used amsteel blue for my forestay. The rigging of a wharram cat probly will not be of help to you tho.Matter of fact I just raised the stick with it on Monday.

[Dustymc]

>The rigging of a wharram cat probly will not be of help to you

If you've hooked synthetic to your deck or mast, I'd love to see how.

[salticrak]

It's simple with a Wharram, I spliced a loop into the one end of the amsteel that slips over the top of the mast head. It is held in place by lugs. Then down to a stainless thimble on the other end that attaches to the forstay bridle also out of amsteel via a shackle and 6mm rope lashing.

[salticrak]

here ya go

[salticrak]

The bridle and forestay.

[Dustymc]

Thank you! Do you run the lashing tail to a winch? Do you have a sense of how much tension (eg, "enough") you can get with that setup?

[salticrak]

You could do that or set a 3,4 or 5 part purchase. The wharram rigging does not have to be as taught as regular rigs due to the allowances made for movement/flex in the whole platform.The lashings are not done properly yet as I was not game enough to mess with it yesterday due to blustery conditions.

[boatsmith]

Colligo makes titanium or stainless tangs that will attach the dyneema terminal fitting to the upper photo. They also have an a t-ball adapter. ohn Franta is Colligo and is a very helpfull fellow. I would give him a call. 480.703.3675 We run our lanyards such that we can hook a halyard to the tail and crank it with a winch. I like it tight. IMO the beam lashings and blocking keep the boat much stiffer. The lashings should absorb shock loadings, not let the boat move around. A floppy rig will not help one sail upwind.