I have no wear what so ever on my 3 mm line but then again this is the same line I'm using as trap lines for many years now. In past discussion I found that my 3 mm dyneema line is more abuse resistant and stronger then what people in other area's of the world get when they order 3 mm dyneema. My line is quote at 500 kg breakstrength while most sailors can only get 250 kg 3 mm dyneema which to me appears to be only a cheap imitation.




What I've DONE is this. (later what I will do a new mainsheet)

3300 mm 5 mm swifcord
5000 mm 3 mm 500 kg dyneema

I've PUSHED the 3 mm through the whole swiftcord line then massaged the swiftcord tight and smooth over the 3 mm line and stiched ONLY the ends. The way swiftcord is build makes it grip tightly around the inner line EVEN when it is not stitched. Hence the fact that I pushed the 3 mm line through the swiftcord and NOT pulled it through. So the stitching is only there to initiate this gripping and not to transfer all the load. This is also the reason why I ONLY stithced the ends over 50 mm or so. THis seems to work well enough.

So on one end I got the 3 mm sticking out by some 1750 mm and when I attach this end to the upper block becket then I have just the right length. Pure by luck as I never engineered these lengths. It was just what I still had laying about because of other projects. the 3300 mm swiftcord is just a cut of from my downhaul line.

Because of the stitching and its initiating of the gripping action by the tightening of the swiftcord wave I believe and combo were a 500 mm overlap is present will work. I tested this without the stitching in place and it seemed to hold large amounts of force already.

I still have a seperate line for my traveller though so I have to tie these two together at their ends.



What I will do in a few weeks is to try and improve on this.

The mainsheet block end will remain as is UNLESS I decide to have the line end with 5 mm swiftcord on both ends and only insert a 3 mm core in the parts that I'm holding and that is wrapped around the ratchets at all possible stages of mainsheet tension.

The best use of the 3 mm core is to make the line locally thicker so you are not holding a rather thin line AND to prevent the swiftcord from shaping itself in to a flat tape that negates the ratchet function of the lower mainsheet block. Swiftcord is so flexible that it can actually snake itself around the cams without much friction and this is bad news for ratchets blocks. Of course the traveller end see much lower loads and doesn't use a ratchet although the same snaking can make cleating of the line troublesome. However my downhaul 5 mm swiftcord cleats just fine so I'll take the risk there I think. However I'm also thinking about inserting 3 mm dyneema core at this end as well, probably only 500 mm and pull it out a little away from the end so I get a two tales traveller end. The use of that should be clear to you.

Personally I found that having a 3 mm end running through the mainsheet allows the blocks to really rotate relative to eachother without the line rubbing on eachother, this makes the blocks run really smoothly. You must know that I was pressed for money so I could buy only the cheaper blocks. Meaning my upper block doesn't swivel. So the above advantage is important to me as my blocks with need to allow (2 * 90 =) 180 degrees rotation to eachother.


For more info read these postings :

Well do you own search on the F16 there is a full posting with pics explaining exactly what I did however since the forum upgrade the search function is just downright shitty and I can't find anything anymore. So do your own search, I haven't got the time or lust to try and make the new search do what the old one did instantly. Sorry


Wouter