| Gene,
I have spectra core sheets w/ an olefin cover. They're low stretch,
light weight, and don't absorb water. I love them. They seem less
inclined to twist and kink than kevlar. Go for a funky color, I
find it helps the crew work alot.
The ends tend to fray more than traditional line, you either have to do
a proper whipping job or melt them heavily. Tape and a match doesn't
work.
Paul
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One of the latest Practical Sailor issues had some comments from
ocean-crossing types, and one (Hal Roth?) mentioned how he liked it,
but, (see last note!) the stuff is slippery, and the cover wore- so he
slid the spectra out and slid a new cover over the core! I kinda like
that idea, from a enviromental as well as cheapskate point of view.
How he did this switchover, and who sold him the new braid, I'd like to
know. My next set of jibsheets will probably be spectra, barring cash
flow difficulties...
I think New England Ropes were pushing the `neon' colors, right? Now
the sheets can match the shorts!
Scott.
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| When the opportunity to pick some 5/16" Spectra up at a firesale price
presented itself this weekend, I bought some. All the claims for it
were borne out during Saturday's racing. The olefin cover is very
slippery which is good for passing through blocks easily but it does
require a firmer grip than the usual dacron covers do. It was
suggested that I lightly sand the line to induce some friction but I
couldn't bring myself to do that to the irradescent neon colors.
It was also suggested that to reduce the tendency to kink, any braided
line should never be flat coiled. Instead, resist the tendency to
impart a twist to the line to make it lie flat. Just coil it so it
forms figure eights or lies at random on the coil. The resulting coil
will look awful. But when you feed out the line right from the coil,
it won't form knots or kinks. I've been coiling lines flat for so long
that the only way I can do this is to conciously avoid looking at the
line as I coil it. Ya learn something every day.
- gene
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