Dyneema Lifelines

[britinusa]

The old lifeline turnbuckles broke when I was trying to remove them in order to replace the Stanchions that were damaged when I fell onto the port side lifeline.

After reading a gazillion topics about lifelines, choices, vinyl covered, steel, dyneema, turnbuckles, and more, I decided to replace our Vinyl Covered Steel Lifelines with 1/4" Amsteel 8600lb. average tensile strength.

Some of the things I considered:
.. What about Fenders hanging off the Dyneema line? Well, I no have not secured a fender to the top life line in ages because I'm worried about bending the stanchions. I now secure the fenders to the base of the stanchions.
.. What about chafing? This is an issue with the Dyneema, but it's so strong, that it will have to chafe a lot before I would be concerned - And as Stu says, the lifeline is just to show where the edge of the boat is located. It's not to provide a grab rail.
.. What about splicing the Dyneema? Turns out it's a whole lot easier than splicing double braid line and simple tools that don't require heavy duty stainless steel crimping.
.. What about UV? The Dyneema that I purchased has a UV coating - and it's so much easier to replace that the low cost and ease of replacement eliminates that concern.
.. How to connect a Pelican hook to ease opening and closing the lifelines on either side of the cockpit.


The process that I used:

Used a HF 4.5" Angle grinder to cut off the old seized lifelines & turnbuckles. That's 8 lines! Port & Stbd aft upper & lower lines & pelican hooks, Port & Stbd Main lifelines, upper and lower.

Following many You-Tube videos, I spliced a thimble onto one end of each line and temporarily secured that to the pulpit (upper lower port & stbd main lines) and to the aft pulpit (upper lower port & stbd main lines) with a long length of lashing line.

For the main lines I ran them through the stanchions all the way aft and through the aft most stanchion and marked the line where it came out of the stanchion.

Then releasing the lashings that pulpit, I spliced a thimble onto aft end of each line and redid the lashing to pull the splice into the holes of the aft-most stanchion.
Now the aft most thimble is tight up against the stanchion.

Next I threaded each of the forward end of the aft lines through a new pelican hook. I used the lashing line to whip the end of the Dyneema to create a binding that would not pass through the threaded tube of the Pelican hook, but small enough that it would allow the pelican hook to close. That worked well, but when a friend leaned heavily on the lifeline, that binding came out of the pelican hook.

So I then replaced the lashing line with Stainless Steel Locking wire and that will not slip through the Pelican hook.

Cost:
10 Thimbles (only needed 6) $12.95
98' of 2mm Lashing line $33.20
200' of Amsteel 8600lb. average tensile strength (1/4" x 100 ft. Hank, Black) $86.00 EACH!
4 Pelican hooks (marinepart depot) $48.00

Total Cost $268180 plus shipping (but most of it was from Amazon prime)

Correction: The 1/4" Amsteel was $86 for a 100' hank.

I'm really pleased with the results. I did change the design slightly, moving the Pelican hooks to the forward end of the aft lines, now the lines drape nicely over the aft pulpit frame when they are open and it's easy to close them. The Pelican hooks attach to the Thimbles on the aft end of the main lifelines. It works very well. I am left with quite a bit of the Amsteel line, so I'm making several things using that. A spliced loop to attach my new Anchor Snubber to the Chain, Lanyard to secure our Winchrite cordless winch handle to eliminate the risk of it falling overboard if it jerks to a stop, and as many Soft Shackles as I could ever need.

Paul

[MarcZ]

pics , please

[Noah]

Kudos for being handy enough to do your own. BTW-there was a pretty good recent write-up on Dyneema lifelines in last month's Practical Sailor. They were decertified in 2016 to use in sanctioned racing--they only allow bare (uncoatrd) stainless steel wire.  However, heard good reviews from an offshore sailing buddy who put them on his Trimaran and other cruisers.

https://www.practical-sailor.com/issues/37_77/mailport/Mailport-Whats-Up-with-Synthetic-Lifelines_12200-1.html

[britinusa]

Some pics

[Ken Juul]

I replaced mine this spring for about the same price.  Reused existing pelican hooks, just needed new threaded eye bolts.  Been traveling away from the boat for a month, will try to post pictures this weekend. Purchased everything on line.

[britinusa]

This is the best pic that I have of the old pelican hooks.

Pau

[anon]

My boat came with fenders hanging off the lifelines. Given that I do not have deck cleats where I need fenders what are the other options please?
Is there a way of making a neat attachment to the stanchions?
(I am thinking of adding deck cleats because I like the idea of using spring lines).

[Ken Juul]

With some patience and a lot of PB blaster I was able to get the threaded studs out of the pelican hooks without damaging them.  Used anti seize putting it all back together.

On the fender question.  No issue tieing them low on the stanchions.  Or if the placement is wrong, run a line between the stanchion bases to tie the fenders to.

[Noah]

For midship cleats: I would start with slide-on cleats on your sail tracks for midship cleats and see if they work for you first. Fender hooks:  I hang my fenders on the lifelines with ajustable fender straps. There are several brand out there. Mine are Taylor Made, I gelieve. Work just fine. Unsnap easily, and preset for rehanging after sailing.

[britinusa]

Our old style pelican hooks had snagged me too often, so I was very happy to replace them.

The method of connecting the Amsteel to the new Pelican hooks using stainless steel seizing wire works really well.

Paul

[Ken Juul]

Not the best picture, but this is how I did mine.