I had Pete hold one end and I ran the halyard all the way out to be sure there were no twists in it first, as I have done for the past 3 times rigging the boat, but after one or two spin. sets, it starts kinking up again, just one little kink is enough to stop it from running freely out through the tramp gromet or hang it up in a clete or worse yet, grabbing some other line on the tramp and causing a furball at the clete. I have an open carabiner clip at the back, not a micro block, the hangup comes at the tramp gromet usually, or the turning block on the front beam.

I have not yet bought any 6mm dyneema but I'm going to call today and ask about it. You think 4mm is fat enough to grab? I use rubber palm gloves so I'm not worried about slippage. Anyone know the length? Is 70' long enough?

My halyard is very new, so it's still stiff, maybe that's the problem, maybe if I wash it and drag it behind my car around town for a week...then wash it again... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

You need to work the rope trough many times to remove all kinks. Tie it to a post and start working vigorously down the length with both hands like "milking" the line, moving slowly towards the end. You need to do this at least three times, but for best results you should look at how many kinks you have removed from the line at the end. When you can do this along the whole length of the line without getting any snarls at the end you should be OK. At least this is my experience.

Funny that all lines I have bought over mail-order have come neatly coiled. The only way to treat these is first to 'unroll' the coil like you would do if it was on a cable-drum, and then go trough the above procedure. Strange that the guys who sell lines dont catch up and do this as they pull the line off the drum.

I learned that it is very hard to removed twists from a line but just running it out. When removing kinks from the anchor lines of our race course bouy I throw the lines in the water and then bundle them up nicely. This seems more effective then running them out.

I personally found 4 mm dyneema (with the other mantle still attached) to be enough for hoisting and retrieving the spi line. I do wear gloves, but these are just plain ones and even then I don't always wear them.

In the distant pasts I also have used 5 mm dyneema on my Prindle 18 with spinnaker and that is about as thick as you want to go. Then I used no gloves at all. 6mm seems excessive to me and I think Andreas only used 6mm dyneema because he strips the mantle off it, leaving about 3.5 to 4 mm of its core.

Note however that if you go for swiftcord or other core less lines that 4 mm may be to little as the line itself may be compressed as there is no core preventing this.

One of the things I liked about 4 mm dyneema is its price. It is so much inexpensive then all the swift cords etc.

If slippery lines are no problem for you (it definately is for me) then I would just go with Andreas suggestion (6mm and strip it all) or the suggestion by PTP (get 4 mm line and only stripped the mantle off the last few feet of the line to the top retrieval patch)

Wouter

Ok! Now I'm totally confused. Is dyneema a brand name or a type of material?

I'm considering:

Swiftcord-Maffoli, Dyneema sk-75 & Cordura blend, 4mm.

dyneema is a type of material. If you are looking at the swiftcord stuff, check out 3/16 apex. It feels thicker than it is but is also a single braid dyneema/polypro hybrid line which works well and is cheaper than swiftcord/newswift.. etc.
3/16 is the biggest you would want though.

Thanks! That's what I'm gonna do.

btw- How much slack do you have in your halyard? When the spin is up and locked in place, how much is lying on the tramp?

I can't remember the length- if I ever really knew it to start with. Start with a longish length and then see how much slack you have. Cut a foot or two off until you feel like it is right. If you use a single braid and haven't tapered it then cutting a few feet off at a time is no problem. The length of my halyard seems about right, but there are different ways to run the halyard of course. I have mine off the boat and could measure it- just give me another 2 weeks and I'll get back to you <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />