Ep 24: Getting A Grip On Lines And Rigging

We invited Amanda Swan on the show today because not only does she have hundreds of thousands of sea miles under her belt, but she is also educator (and we like educators). She is also a sailmaker, and rigger. And today we’ll be talking about rigging. Yes – the ropes and wires we rely on but rarely make our matintanance checklists. Let’s be real, when was the last time you walked around you boat and ran your fingers along the wires, feeling for burs. Or went aloft, and checked the chafe on those halyards. Well those checks are critical. And we’ll be talking about why this matter today.  Facebook

Also on the show, we invited John Thurston. John is a rope expert. He owns Lanex USA  in Jamestown RI. Rocinante, our Norseman 447 is outfitted stem to stern in Lanex Rope – a European based cordage company. And we love it. And John’s advice was so good, we thought you might want to hear some of it too.  Facebook • Instagram

We cover a bunch of useful sailing topics in this podcast about lines and rigging:

  • How to care for your running rigging and lines. Why you should take your lines off the boat during the off season.
  • Whats the difference between HMPE (dyneema) and Polyester cordage.
  • Which one floats and which one burns? Covers vs. cores and how they interact.
  • Amanda encourages us to buy lines over length to accomodate chafe, and to buy same size lines – so you can switch them out and change the wear spots. What causes  lines to slip on winches and clutches.
  • We get into the clasic deate of lines led aft vs at the mast, but in regards to line care and longevity. 
  • Do you color code your lines and reef cringles for safety? It’ s a great idea!
  • What causes sheave chafe? We get into Rig inspections and checklists,
  • Keeping this simple… its so easy to sit at your deck and buy sailing gear. But do you need it all?
  • Splicing good line is harder than poor soft line – most riggers dont want to splice with the good stuff because its too hard!
  • Get to know what elastic deformation does to your lines and how creep degrades your line strength.
  • And sailing gloves — do you use them?

Music by Tim Eriksen: timerksenmusic.com