Five secrets to add life to your costly running rigging

by Captain John Jamieson on 1 Jul 2011 How can you extend the service life of your costly halyards, sheets, anchor rope rode, docking lines--or even those extra pieces of line stuffed in your sail-lockers? Follow these five 'line-life-saving' tips on a regular basis aboard your cruising sailboat:

1. Wash and Dry Before You Stow!

Did you realize that nylon line, like that used for docking lines or anchor lines, can lose up to 15% of its strength when wet? Or that wet line, stowed in a dark, dank sail locker presents a prime breeding ground for mold and mildew?

At the first opportunity, wash your anchor rode and cockpit sheets and halyards with fresh water. Get in there with a hose and spray it down. This will loosen up line-killing dirt and salt crystals.

Flake the line in alternate bites (loops) over a rail or your lifelines to dry it. Re-coil or stow the line after it has dried completely. This can add years of life to any line and it will stay supple for sailing or marine knots.

2. Keep Lines Under Tension

Halyards and Genoa or jib sheets must stay under constant tension to prevent fiber and strand breakdown. Lines too slack will shock and slack, which can weaken the line. But tension does not mean taught.

Some lines--docking and anchor lines--must have slack in order to perform their best. But your super expensive sail halyards and sheets should be under tension. When sailing, take in a couple of inches of sheet or halyard once in a while to stave off wear and tear.

3. Make Leads Straight and True:

Straight leads are fair leads. You might have heard the sailing term 'fair lead'. Remember this any time you thread a sheet through a block, or lead a line from the mast back to your cockpit, or set up your Genoa furling line between bow and cockpit.

Keep acute bends--90 degrees or more--to an absolute minimum. The more you bend a line to lead it from one place to another, the more stress it places on the apex of the bend. Use straighter fair leads to pump life-blood into your lines to save on repair and replacement costs.

4. End for End Lines Once a Season:

One of the huge jobs on those square-rigged ships of old was to end-for-end line once a year. This monumental task involved thousands upon thousands of feet of rigging. But it worked and added years of life. After all, those big ships were at sea for years at a time, and the cost of line back then was astronomical.

Today, the small cruising sailboat or racing sailboat skipper can use this same ancient technique to add years of life to docking or anchor lines. And it's a lot simpler because you aren't dealing with several thousand feet.

Just make the dead end of the line the working end. Do this once a season. For example, your anchor line's dead end attached to a ring bolt in your anchor locker. Or, it's the end you attach to your bow cleat. The working end attaches to your anchor. Once a season, switch them around. This end-for-end technique has been proven to extend the service life of anchor line up to a whopping 50%!

5. Whip, Dip, or Tape Bitter Ends:

The ends of your lines can fray and unwind like a snake on a palm tree. Prevent this with a temporary whipping, where you wrap sail twine around the end. Or, use an easier method with a two-inch piece of duct-tape. Wrap the tape tight, two to three times around the end. Use a sharp knife to cut through the center of the tape.

Or, make your own end-whipping dip. Dip at least 1/4' of the bitter end into super glue. Any of these techniques are guaranteed to stop fraying off at the pass and save you lots of money.

Learn to sail like a pro with these five super simple marine knots sailing tips. They will save you lots of money and add years of life to any line--wherever in the world you choose to go sailing!

Captain John teaches sailing skippers the skills they need for safer sailing anywhere in the world. As a SkipperTips member, you get instant access to 400+ sailing articles, sailing video tutorials, live discussion forums, sailing topic ebooks, and much more.

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