Question......Having been away from the big boat scene for a very long time....
could you guys explain why vinyl coated lifelines have fallen into such
disfavor? As far as I can tell, the ones on my boat are the original 36 year
old vinyl coated wire, pretty good track record there!
James
Delaney
C&C 38 MkII
Oriental, NC
----- Original Message -----
From: Chuck S
To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com
Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2013 1:34 PM
Subject: Re: Stus-List SS wire or line for lifelines
Lifelines, SS vs Amsteel
Swageless Johnson fittings were brand new and untested when I replaced our
lifelines with 1/4" Amsteel. I might consider using those if I was ever faced
with doing a different boat, but I like the Amsteel on my boat, and future
replacement look to be far away from now.
In 2007, chose Amsteel because I could do it myself without any special
tools, and create a stronger system. I had never splced before, but following
the Samson website instructions, it was fairly easy. The first one was hard
figuring out fids and fid length jargon, but over time got easier and easier
and I developed a system where I could make the loop exactly where i wanted,
fine tune on site and next time I will eliminate half of the turnbuckles.
Upper lifelines in 7 x 7 strand 3/16" wire is rated for 3700#. The lower
lifelines were 1/8# steel rated at 1700#. I replaced uppers and lowers with
1/4" Amsteel rated for 8600# which greatly upgraded the strength of the system,
and I can easily replace a section (should chafe appear) at any time without
tools or fittings.
I used the original turnbuckles to tension the line, instead of lashings. I
had one turnbuckle I had to cut off and replace, and another that seemed loose,
so replaced both. 8 in total. The rest were reused, by changing the swage
fittings to screw eyes. Some are right hand and some left handed, which
Johnson made for me. I also replaced the double eye gate fittings, and added
pelican hooks to uppers and lowers. When Amsteel is tensioned, it looks and
feels just like steel.
UV is supposed to be the enemy of Amsteel. One winter season, I removed all
of the lifelines and stored aboard in a shoe box, to double their life. That
took more than an hour for me to mark them, remove rigging tape and slacken the
turnbuckles, remove the clevis pin from each turnbuckle, and coil. Took about
te same to put them back on.
Now the weekest link are the stanchion bases, which I am starting to
strengthen with badly needed backing plates underneath.
Tip1; Manmade fibers are hard on scissors, but a new pair of a good brand
Fiskars work fine.
Tip2; follow the splicing instructions, mark the line, but make your lines a
few inches longer. You can always make them shorter by resplicing. You can
only make them longer with a lashing.
Tip 3; I found splicing was easier without a hollow fid (I cut different
sized hollow sewing needles) which you put over the tapered end and push
through the inside. Instead use a straigtened wire coat hanger or a #12 gage
solid wire, or electical fish, and insert through the exit hole, up through the
hollow, out the insertion point, then tape the tapered Amsteel end to the
hanger and pull through. (check Amsteel instruction to understand this) The
wire works on all sizes. Remember the adage, it's always easier to pull a rope
instead of pushing one.
Chuck
Resolute
1990 C&C 34R
Atlantic City, NJ
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Graham Collins" <cnclistforw...@hotmail.com>
To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2013 4:13:27 PM
Subject: Re: Stus-List SS wire or line for lifelines
I replaced my lifelines with bare wire, using the swageless hardware from
C.S. Johnson. Bought it all from Defender. Easy to install, took about an
hour.
Graham Collins
Secret Plans
C&C 35-III #11On 2013-02-15 12:54 PM, cenel...@aol.com wrote:
I am considering replacing my 17 year old lifelines (wire with white
plastic cover) this year.
I like the idea of bare SS wire (long lifetime) although the hassle of the
fittings, swaging, etc. is not appealing.
OTOH, high tech line is begining to be used which eliminates the fittings,
swaging, etc. but it likely has a limited life exposed to the
North Carolina sun every day.
Opinions and especially experience from the list would be appreciated.
TIA,
Charlie Nelson
Water Phantom
C&C 36 XL/kcb
cenel...@aol.com
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