UV protection of DIY Dyneema rigging?

[Benz]

Originally Posted by Franziska

Interesting, I wonder if similar coatings are available from non Marine sources too.

Should be cheaper.

Flexabar in New Jersey makes a PLU rope paint that's far cheaper than Armourcoat or Maxijacket. It comes in 5-gallon pails, and you must dilute it 1:1 with water, so there's ten gallons of it. We use it on nasty old replica "tall ships" that wrap everything with tarred twine and then paint it black--always black. I've tried it on Dyneema and it's indistinguishable from Armourcoat, and a little thicker (though that could be an accident of dilution ratios).
Surely someone in Europe has a similar product.

Cheapest rope protection I can think of is vinyl electrical tape. May look awful, but it's protect from UV damage and chafe, and is easy to insect. I'm not recommending it, mind you--just saying it would be among the most cost-effective solutions.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Benz

Flexabar in New Jersey makes a PLU rope paint that's far cheaper than Armourcoat or Maxijacket. It comes in 5-gallon pails, and you must dilute it 1:1 with water, so there's ten gallons of it. We use it on nasty old replica "tall ships" that wrap everything with tarred twine and then paint it black--always black. I've tried it on Dyneema and it's indistinguishable from Armourcoat, and a little thicker (though that could be an accident of dilution ratios).
Surely someone in Europe has a similar product.

Cheapest rope protection I can think of is vinyl electrical tape. May look awful, but it's protect from UV damage and chafe, and is easy to insect. I'm not recommending it, mind you--just saying it would be among the most cost-effective solutions.

Please send a link. I've been looking for this recently and cannot find it. It was formerly sold as Rope Dip. Yes, for Dynema the dilution rate is more like 4:1.


It is also very effective on nylon and polyester. As you say, 1:1 dilution for heavy duty uses, and 2-4:1 for were ropes go through clutches, etc, where you don't want to stiffen the line as much.

[Benz]

Originally Posted by thinwater

Please send a link. I've been looking for this recently and cannot find it. It was formerly sold as Rope Dip. Yes, for Dynema the dilution rate is more like 4:1.


It is also very effective on nylon and polyester. As you say, 1:1 dilution for heavy duty uses, and 2-4:1 for were ropes go through clutches, etc, where you don't want to stiffen the line as much.

https://www.flexabar.com/

I don't think they do online sales: I had to call them and go around in some circles to get them to understand what I needed.

Also, apologies for the terrible typos in the last post I made--what a shocking neglect of proofreading!

[toddedger]

I've been interested in this subject for awhile being in Panama at 9 degrees Latitude. Last year I put a test swatch of gorilla permanent all weather tape on top of my mast for a test and it held up well. This year I covered my 11 mm backstay with it. Running vertically the 1.88" wide tape easily made it around the circumference with about 1/4" overlap. I installed it in 4' overlaping sections with the stay in place on the boat. So far it looks promising, and I'll probably put it on my upper shrouds soon. By the way the tape is black and it doesn't look tacky at all.

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by toddedger

I've been interested in this subject for awhile being in Panama at 9 degrees Latitude. Last year I put a test swatch of gorilla permanent all weather tape on top of my mast for a test and it held up well. This year I covered my 11 mm backstay with it. Running vertically the 1.88" wide tape easily made it around the circumference with about 1/4" overlap. I installed it in 4' overlaping sections with the stay in place on the boat. So far it looks promising, and I'll probably put it on my upper shrouds soon. By the way the tape is black and it doesn't look tacky at all.

Interesting, do you happen to have a picture?

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Benz

https://www.flexabar.com/

I don't think they do online sales: I had to call them and go around in some circles to get them to understand what I needed.

Also, apologies for the terrible typos in the last post I made--what a shocking neglect of proofreading!

I called. They no longer retail at all. All of the production goes to makers of lifting slings and tow ropes.

[sailcrazy]

Following

[toddedger]

Can't see much. Looks like covered PBO shroud you would see on a cat.

[Bill Gibbs]

With an excess of first time paranoia, I speced a heat shrink cover on my first dux Dynex stays. And taped over exposed eyes. I no longer have the boat, but it’s about 20 years and going strong. Current boat I left dux exposed and replaced at 8 years, just to be safe.

[earthbm]

Read this thread:

https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...fe-260386.html

The solution I ended up with:
- dyneema chafe sleeve (for chafe)
- Home Depot Rustoleum UV fabric paint (one coat)
- automotive truck bed lining paint (two coats)

I’ll let you know in 10 years. Looks good so far.

[Benz]

Originally Posted by thinwater

I called. They no longer retail at all. All of the production goes to makers of lifting slings and tow ropes.

Too bad--I'm going to need a fiver of paint soon....

[LifePart2]

We installed dyneema dux back in 2011. It had no UV protection and we replaced it DIY in 2019. We noted that the lower ends that had heat shrink for about 1 meter coverning the splice itself had zero fuzziness.

I had a discussion about this with John at Colligo.

So this time we covered the entire lenght of all the rigging with heat shrink that we got from Mouser.com. The stuff we used was

HSTTP75-CY
Panduit Heat Shrink Tubing and Sleeves

But it seems that is no longer available.

You will need two sizes - a short stretch to cover the fatness of the splices, and then a longer one to go between the slices, allowing a good lenght of overlap where the two meet. The final splice will have to be done after the tubing is on, so make sure you take that into account.

I suggest putting in some glue into the overlap to keep them together as we have had some speparation between them.

We then used the liquid electrical tape, similar to plastidip, to paint protection on the parts that go around the terminators so that every bit of exposed dyneema is covered.

It is a tough job feeding the tubing over the rope. Send a retrieval line down the tube with a a rode of some sort. Then pull the rope back through the tube as best you can. If you can keep it all in a straight line (mybe on a dock) it all gets much easier.

Since then the dyneema shows no fuzziness when a bit of it can be seen. Occasionally we have patch up some small cuts in the tube which we do with self-amalgamating tape or liquid electrical tape.

John says that if it is covered like this, it will at least double its life span.



This image shows Colligo's Cheeky Tang with a titanium bolt through the mast, and the covering of liquid electrical tape plus heat shring tubing.

Well, that's our solution. YMMV

Noel

[Franziska]

Awesome reply. Thank you.

We used heat shrink over the splices too, but primarily as chafe protection.

One comment, use a heat shrink tube type which does not require a lot of heat. Dyneema can get damaged if one uses to much heat...