Outer braid failure on main halyard

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How long should the outer braid cover last, on an 8mm Dyneema Main halyard held through a Spinlock XAS clutch.?

The previous Marlow D2 lasted 4 seasons. Its replacement, not D2 but a Swedish Dyneema rope with a fine braid outer lasted just over 12 months. Is this a premature failure?

How long should we expect it to last .?

Thanks.
 
If you cut rope sizes to the minimum, the life is reduced.
If a clutch is working on the smallest rope it will hold, again life is reduced and a particular brand of rope might work better than others.
You don't say how big the main is or what sailing you've done in the year.
It's not a life span I would accept, because one wild weekend could be more wear than a year of 'normal' sailing.
Whether you consider the rope is poor quality, or just does not match your clutch might be worth discussing with the rope maker. Also, is the clutch now 5 years old, and being no longer new, it wears the rope more?

Or maybe you are sailing the boat differently, loading the halyard a lot. A discussion with Spinlock might be worth while. Have you got more blase about releasing clutches under load?
 
Thanks lw395

You make some good observations and valid points. Big roach full batten main on westerly fulmar that we club race. So yes probably all of the above .

The rope had a fine braid outer but did not appear to be showing any signs of degredation.

Clutches are now 6 years old and 8mm is the smallest size rope they are recommended for. Would a 10 mm halyard last longer do you think?

The recent failure occured during a gybe in heavy weather because the vang had not been sufficiently tightened after removing a reef, which meant that the sail was a bit too full.?

It is clearly better to move the clutching point during the life of the rope which tends to imply that the masthead shackle should be tied rather than spliced. This seems to frowned upon by some.

Thanks for your help.
 
My Spectra genoa halyard dates 1993 and is still very good and my main halyard also spectra was fitted in 2002 and is as good as new.My clutches are of the old type so not particularly easy on ropes.
 
Blimey, something wrong here by the looks of it.!!. I have had two go in 6 years.

We do not release under load. Many of my crew are not that strong in the finger department and find it extremely difficult to release under any load at all. Therefore I do not see repeated under load release has been a factor.
I accept thats its all related to amount of use and yes, the boat is used often.

I am thinking something a miss with the last rope in particular or may be the inside of the clutch, nothing obvious. Waiting to hear from Spinlock and the rope supplier.
 
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