Wednesday 26 August 2020

Making the most of the dyneema - splicing rings for boom attachment points.

The 12 strand dyneema SK75 is really nice to work with. Much easier to splice than double-braid, and incredibly strong. I've been using it for all sorts of things on Elena; shrouds, outhaul, and also to fashion attachment points for blocks.

On my boom, I'm attaching the three blocks (two for mainsheet, one for vang) using simple loops. I simply make these by cutting a length of dyneema, then passing the two ends into the rope, while it's attached to the boom. it's extremely simple. With long tapered ends it's very secure under tension, and some lock-stitching (using waxed dyneema thread) holds it neatly while it's not under tension.

Here's a view while working:

And the finished result: