Cruisers Forum
 


Reply
  This discussion is proudly sponsored by:
Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on Cruisers Forums. Advertise Here
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Rate Thread Display Modes
Old 22-06-2014, 06:21   #1
Registered User
 
George Da Porge's Avatar

Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Green Bay, WI
Boat: 1990 Catalina 30 Tall Rig
Posts: 53
Running Lines Color Scheme?

Recently purchased a Catalina 30T. Most of the halyards, sheets and other control lines are due for replacement in the near future. Any suggestions on a color scheme for the various lines to help differentiate them for the crew (especially non-sailing experienced guests)? Thanks!
George Da Porge is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-06-2014, 08:02   #2
CF Adviser
 
Bash's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: sausalito
Boat: 14 meter sloop
Posts: 7,260
Re: Running lines color scheme?

On my boat, all lines are white, intentionally. The last thing I want is for someone to say, "Release that green rope," when what they really want is for the lazy sheet to be removed from the winch.

It's really not hard to "learn the ropes," and if someone can't learn the proper name of each line, then they ought to stay out of the way.

All rope clutches on my boat are labelled. When a newbie comes aboard and asks, "What can I do?" I respond, "Learn the names of the lines."
__________________
cruising is entirely about showing up--in boat shoes.
Bash is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-06-2014, 08:05   #3
Moderator Emeritus
 
Ex-Calif's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: May 2007
Location: Ohio
Boat: Now boatless :-(
Posts: 11,580
Images: 4
Re: Running lines color scheme?

Whatever makes sense to you. For the same reason - inexpereinced crew I prefer different colors.

In my case -

main halyard - White
mainsheet - Yellow
traveler control - white & red checks
genny halyard - white and blue checks
port genny sheet - Red
starboard genny sheet - Green
reef 1 - blue
reef 2 - red (smaller than genny & on coach roof)
spin halyard - White & green checks
pole up - white & black checks (I think)
pole down - yellow
port spin sheet - White & red checks
starboard spin sheet - White & blue checks

I think a couple of patterns are repeated but they are on different sized line and in different control locations.

Piece of advice is get at least a couple feet longer than you need. lines will wear especially where they go in clutches. You can swap end for end, then cut a bit of length of off. The swap end for end again.

Every year at haulout I put all the lines in a big bucket of soapy water and soak them. I put chasing lines on the halyards and hoist them up. Some advocate pulling the halyards but I am lazy.

if you have a big assed boat it is a bigger assed problem - On my boat it's easy.

Soak a day or so, rinse repeat a couple times - then lay them out in the sun - when the salt is out they get a lot more supple.
__________________
Relax Lah! is SOLD! <--- Click
Click--> Custom CF Google Search or CF Rules
You're gonna need a bigger boat... - Martin Brody
Ex-Calif is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-06-2014, 08:52   #4
Registered User

Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Bellingham
Boat: Outbound 44
Posts: 9,319
Re: Running lines color scheme?

I just counted, we have 18 lines coming back to the cockpit. I'd be lost without some color coding.
__________________
Paul
Paul L is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-06-2014, 09:02   #5
Registered User
 
ryon's Avatar

Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Southern California
Posts: 588
Re: Running lines color scheme?

I sail everything from dinghies to full-rigged ships, and know the feeling of being confused and utterly worthless. The trauma of casting off a lift when you meant to trim a sheet will stay with you for a lifetime, maybe longer. That said, I can't imagine how coloring your lines would make them any easier to learn.

What must be learned are the line's function, how it runs, and the line's position, where it's cleated, stoppered, etc. What happens when you haul a halyard? That's the line that starts there, and runs there, and there, and is belayed right here. How will it feel before you take it off belay? -- those are the things crew should be thinking. Not "what color am I grabbing for?"
ryon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-06-2014, 09:14   #6
Registered User
 
Stu Jackson's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Cowichan Bay, BC (Maple Bay Marina)
Posts: 9,705
Re: Running lines color scheme?

All white.

Learn the blinkin' names.

Kinda like all these questions about:

"How do I replace my WINDOWS?!?"

"Where can I get pots & pans for my KITCHEN?!?"

"What's the best paper for my TOILET?!?"
__________________
Stu Jackson
Catalina 34 #224 (1986) C34IA Secretary
Cowichan Bay, BC, SR/FK, M25, Rocna 10 (22#) (NZ model)
Stu Jackson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-06-2014, 09:25   #7
Registered User

Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Oregon
Boat: Seafarer36c
Posts: 5,563
Re: Running lines color scheme?

I like different colors lines for the reefing system. In the dark, green and blue tracers are hard to tell apart in the same type of line so maybe more of a contrast would help there.
model 10 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-06-2014, 09:40   #8
Moderator Emeritus
 
Ex-Calif's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: May 2007
Location: Ohio
Boat: Now boatless :-(
Posts: 11,580
Images: 4
Re: Running lines color scheme?

Another situation where colors help is racing. We raced a charter boat. The mainsheet and traveller were on the roof.

I was pianoman and main trimmer. As we turned to start instead of unstopping the windward traveller I dropeed the genny halyard. The clutches were also not marked.

The genny trimmers were not pleased.
__________________
Relax Lah! is SOLD! <--- Click
Click--> Custom CF Google Search or CF Rules
You're gonna need a bigger boat... - Martin Brody
Ex-Calif is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-06-2014, 09:52   #9
Registered User
 
Cheechako's Avatar

Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Skagit City, WA
Posts: 25,483
Re: Running lines color scheme?

Colors can be helpful if you have a dodger etc and the line routing is hard to see. OTOH.. if you buy a spool of line in one color it's a LOT cheaper! Just label the end points. (winch, stopper , cleat etc)
__________________
"I spent most of my money on Booze, Broads and Boats. The rest I wasted" - Elmore Leonard











Cheechako is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-06-2014, 10:16   #10
Registered User
 
OldFrog75's Avatar

Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Santa Monica, CA
Boat: Club Sailor; various
Posts: 922
Re: Running lines color scheme?

Being a member of a sailing club I've sailed on 36 boats and every one is different but if I were rigging my own boat I would be inclined toward the following:

If you're trying to help out newbies, then green on starboard; red on port for jib sheets is a good place to start (same side as the running lights).

Other than that, I personally prefer black on the traveler and white on the topping lift with a solid color on the mainsheet.

Solid colors with white checks on the halyards and white with colored checks on the reef lines and outhaul.

If you have a spinnaker then foreguy, topping lift, halyard, tweens, and sheets are whatever makes sense for you after the other more "routine" rigging colors have been chosen.

If you're rigged for racing with an adjustable backstay and lines running to the cockpit to adjust the jib cars on the fly then everything just got a little more complicated and like with the spinnaker, whatever works for you after you've covered the "basics".

Also, as others have commented, label the clutches.

Have fun. Don't leave home without your check book...you'll need it!
OldFrog75 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-06-2014, 11:00   #11
Registered User
 
OldFrog75's Avatar

Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Santa Monica, CA
Boat: Club Sailor; various
Posts: 922
Re: Running lines color scheme?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bash View Post
On my boat, all lines are white, intentionally. The last thing I want is for someone to say, "Release that green rope," when what they really want is for the lazy sheet to be removed from the winch.

It's really not hard to "learn the ropes," and if someone can't learn the proper name of each line, then they ought to stay out of the way.

All rope clutches on my boat are labelled. When a newbie comes aboard and asks, "What can I do?" I respond, "Learn the names of the lines."
I agree but I've found even with experienced sailors on an unfamiliar boat trying to sort out 8-10 different lines during a race the conversation is frequently something like, "Ease the outhaul"...pause...pause...pause..."It's the white one with the yellow checks". "OK, got it".
OldFrog75 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-06-2014, 12:17   #12
Marine Service Provider

Join Date: May 2012
Location: New Orleans
Boat: We have a problem... A serious addiction issue.
Posts: 3,974
Re: Running lines color scheme?

I group lines by function and try to keep colors inside a group consistent.

So sheets are all red and green solid for spinnakers white and flecked for jib (main is black).
Halyards are blue. Main is solid, jib is flecked black, spin flecked white...ect


I can't stand a boat with all e same color line. In high pressure situations ie while racing or when the crap hits the fan being able to quickly identify and untangle a line is critical. Have them all the same size and color adds to the difficulty in identifying which line I have in my hands.
__________________
Greg

- If animals weren't meant to be eaten then they wouldn't be made of food.
Stumble is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-06-2014, 15:25   #13
Moderator
 
JPA Cate's Avatar

Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: aboard, cruising in Australia
Boat: Sayer 46' Solent rig sloop
Posts: 28,438
Re: Running lines color scheme?

If you like to involve people who are your guests in sailing your boat, I think having different colored lines does help. Since they clutter up the cockpit, they might as well be some use.

We once were able to negotiate a reel price from a supplier when we were buying more than a reel's length of lines at one time. Maybe that would help the OP with the cost.

The important thing to me is to be able to distinguish at a glance which line you want to pull. Since we made the tactical error of having the same line for our double preventers as for our staysail sheets, both of which run along the side decks and enter the cockpit around the dodger. I simply check which block it's coming from, but if they all were white, it might be more difficult.

Friends have red or red ticked lines for port side genoa and stays'l sheets, green for starboard, but to me, that's not necessary. Just that they look different, or feel different. Our genoa sheets are larger diameter than our staysail sheets, so easy to feel which is which in the dark.

For the running rigging, pick colors you like, though red fades faster than other colors. Or all white (which turns grey) blue, which fades, etc. New line is lovely, enjoy!

Ann
__________________
Who scorns the calm has forgotten the storm.
JPA Cate is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-06-2014, 16:08   #14
Moderator Emeritus
 
Hudson Force's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Lived aboard & cruised for 45 years,- now on a chair in my walk-in closet.
Boat: Morgan OI 413 1973 - Aythya
Posts: 8,455
Images: 1
Re: Running Lines Color Scheme?

I do have a number of lines that are of some different colors, but not by a plan of organization by their color. I have an older ketch with rather simple rigging and not with everything led to the cockpit; therefore, I do not have any two lines with different functions at the same location. Downhauls are under the goosenecks; outhauls are at the ends of the booms; halyards at at the port or starboad sides of the masts; sheets don't share the same winches....

I think that people would have plans for lines colors that comply with their rigging.
__________________
Take care and joy, Aythya crew
Hudson Force is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-06-2014, 17:38   #15
Moderator Emeritus
 
roverhi's Avatar

Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Carlsbad, CA
Boat: 1976 Sabre 28-2
Posts: 7,505
Send a message via Yahoo to roverhi
Re: Running Lines Color Scheme?

Ran the mainsail reefing and halyard back to cockpit. Used red, blue and green for the different reef point lines. Think I'd go red white and blue or green, in that order, when they are replaced so they are easier to identify at night. Main halyard is black but that's just because I got a deal on the Dyneema Cored line. Would want it some other color than the reefing lines. At the mast, have the jib halyard and spinnaker halyard a different color to make it easier to tell apart.
__________________
Peter O.
'Ae'a, Pearson 35
'Ms American Pie', Sabre 28 Mark II
roverhi is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
F5 color scheme - adjusting the dimmer & MOB button dave777 OpenCPN 7 18-08-2013 01:19
Need help with color scheme!! Kyleigh21 Meets & Greets 13 26-07-2012 12:41
For Sale: Running lights + Tri-color DCGSAILING Classifieds Archive 0 30-01-2011 08:34
What's the Best Color Scheme ? markpierce General Sailing Forum 32 20-12-2010 04:22
Wat color what color Little Otter Construction, Maintenance & Refit 3 30-06-2008 06:45

Advertise Here


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 06:29.


Google+
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Social Knowledge Networks
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.

ShowCase vBulletin Plugins by Drive Thru Online, Inc.