Cruising Dyneema problems

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nimrod1230

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Having bought and rigged a new main halyard in 12mm cruising Dyneema I now have problems with slipping both on the winch drum and jammer. The new line is very shiny compared with some of the other original lines. The supplier has suggested bees wax or soaking in salt water but admits to not having tried either and assures the line will become more grippy with time. Google comes up with a couple of suggestions of roughing the sheath with sandpaper. Anyone have a definitive solution based on their own experience? Thanks for any help offered, Terry.
 
nimrod1230 said:
Having bought and rigged a new main halyard in 12mm cruising Dyneema I now have problems with slipping both on the winch drum and jammer. The new line is very shiny compared with some of the other original lines. The supplier has suggested bees wax or soaking in salt water but admits to not having tried either and assures the line will become more grippy with time. Google comes up with a couple of suggestions of roughing the sheath with sandpaper. Anyone have a definitive solution based on their own experience? Thanks for any help offered, Terry.
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what jammers are you using, i have no probs with spinlock
 
I have heard rightly or wrongly that when manufacturing Dyneema that they use a certain amount of silicon as lubrication in the manufacturing process to aid the pre tension friction on the machines. If you can find a suitable solvent for silicone that wont affect the rope itself that may be a start?
This is something I have considered as I would like to replace my Main halyard but not sure if the clutches will work with a new smaller dyneema.
I will be interested to see what solution you find if you post it.
 
Too late for the OP but the best solution if you want a Dyneema halyard is to get rope with a Dyneema core and a polyester braid outer sheath. If that is what he has the reason may be that the clutch is designed for larger rope. As for the winch, the only real solution to slipping is to put on as many turns as possible and tail the line with a bit of tension.
 
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Norman_E said:
Too late for the OP but the best solution if you want a Dyneema halyard is to get rope with a Dyneema core and a polyester braid outer sheath. If that is what he has the reason may be that the clutch is designed for larger rope. As for the winch, the only real solution to slipping is to put on as many turns as possible and tail the line with a bit of tension.
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Just suddenly occured to me, would it be possible to have a polyester tail spliced to the sheet end or would that be a no no!
 
xeitosaphil said:
Just suddenly occured to me, would it be possible to have a polyester tail spliced to the sheet end or would that be a no no!
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I had a dyneema main halyard. It was tapered so that the outer sheath was spliced into the core (because a conventional splice stuck in the masthead sheave) So it's possible, but the guy who did it was very skilled.
 
The line is described as Dyneema core/polyester cover. Spinlock XTS clutches rated 8-14mm line. Will google for a possible silicone solvent solution. Thanks for all your suggestions so far. Rather surprised I am the only one with these problems! Terry.
 
a chandler who sells Dyneema says that they sometimes get issues with Spinlock clutches on dyneema. Less of an issue on Lewmar cluches. Never had an issue when I dropped from 12mm poly to 10mm dyneema but i had Lewmar clutch.
 
stick it in a washing machine . no joke , gets rid of slippyness in new ropes , also does no harm at end of season either ,


just have to catch a time when misses is out ;)
 
boaterbaz said:
strip the outer cover from a suitable length of polyester braided rope and slip over the dyneema, sew/whip the cover where your halyard jambs in the clutch. Has the bonus of saving wear on outer sheathing by clutch jaws.
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We have covers like this on our main and jib halyards where they go through the clutches. Does make a difference, but we still have to renew the cam in the main halyard every season, and jib every other - even though they are both on the winches upwind. Suspect that whilst the clutches are fine for normal cruising use, the loads they get with string sails in heavy winds mean they might be slightly under spec'd.
 
To close this thread and maybe help others. I washed the line after lightly roughing the cover with 400g wet and dry. Bought and fitted the Spinlock service kit. Incidentally, the block of three clutches was full of muck to the point that the lower plate teeth may have been partially filled and compromised the grip. One or all these actions has solved the problem both through the clutch and round the winch drum. Have now hosed and cleaned all the clutches and ashamed at the amount of dirt/rubbish that came out. Thanks everyone for your thoughts, Terry.
 
markhomer said:
stick it in a washing machine . no joke , gets rid of slippyness in new ropes , also does no harm at end of season either ,


just have to catch a time when misses is out ;)
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Funny, does no harm is not what a rope manufacturer said in YM when asked. A bucket of cold water was recommended I believe for cleaning ropes.
 
Used to have Spinlock clutches on old boat and had similar problem with halyard slipping just a few cm. I was told to fully open and then close the clutch, once the halyard was in the right position (while held by the winch). This seemed to solve the problem even with new dyneema halyards.
 
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