Bow net lacing

[clockwork orange]

Ok, I have spent an hour searching old threads and found plenty on what to use for replacing the nets but very little on what rope material and size to use to lace them. My son and his girlfriend have bought a Simpson 13 m cat that has been sitting for a while in the Florida sun and while the Sunrise nets appear to be still in good shape we want to replace the lacing so are looking for suggestions. Sunrise show a 5/32" dyneema which has a breaking strength of 4000lbs, we use a lot of 1/8 dyneema at work which is about 2500lbs I think which I would think would be plenty. We are in Minnesota and are going down to the boat on a work trip over xmas for 3 weeks and are planning on ordering a spool of something to take with us. Any idea of the length we will need? It has 2 nets with a platform down the middle pretty typical of many cats this size. Any help would be appreciated.

Steve.

[Cotemar]

Maybe this will help.

1. Lashed with 3/16th. Each lashing is separate. Poor installations will simply use a single line along each side but this will fail in months of use. Single lashings are much stronger.

2. The lashings are wrapped three times and then cinched tight. You tighten gradually and then go back and tighten again until the net is stretched to all four edges. A large fid helps to lock the lashing as it is tightened.

The job finished properly gives you tramps that will be very firm and will last a long time.

[clockwork orange]

Thanks for the reply, it looks like you used dacron for the lacing which would be plenty strong wrapped 3 times like you did. I don't remember how the nets are laced at present but we will probably just do it the same as we have a limited amount of time to get a lot done and we do not particularly like what it is laced to. So I think we will be completely revisiting it after we get the boat back home.

Steve.

[Jim Cate]

Steve, you might consider removing one or two lashings and testing to see if they have lost too much strength. Wouldn't have to be too damn scientific... use a deck winch to load them up and get an idea of how badly deteriorated they are. Maybe you can postpone the whole relacing job!

Jim

[44'cruisingcat]

Some trampolines are laced on with one continuous length of cord. These would need pretty strong cord, as a single failure could lose the whole trampoline.


If you have multiple individual lacings, you can use lighter weight cord. We used 4mm VB style cord in individual lacings, which wrap a few times. We've had 4 people on one trampoline a couple of times with no worries whatsoever.

[DotDun]

So 3/16" sta-set has a breaking strength of 1300lbs and 1/4" 2500lbs.

How many people are you expecting on the net at the same time????

[snort]

I have to do this job too and I did a search for VB cord and was wondering if there's a supplier that sells it in smaller quantities. I don't need a hundred meters of the stuff.

Yeah, I'd go with individual lashings for safety, instead of worrying about the possibility f the unraveling of one long cord.

[44'cruisingcat]

We managed to buy a 50metre spool. And IIRC used most of it. It's surprising how much it takes.

[snort]

Yeah, you're probably right about that! Seems like a good investment, and it's got to be done.

[Training Wheels]

I use 1/8" dyneema.

[svYikes]

I just bought 3mm parachute cord on ebay in 10m lengths.

[clockwork orange]

We were thinking of using 1/8" dyneema. It looks like the boat has eyestraps along the hull and center walkway with 1x19 cable running through them and then the webbing nets are laced to the cable with individual loops like many of you guys do it. There are ss tubes running around the net perimeters so the lacing is better supported. You may have a good point Jim about checking the condition of a few before committing to a whole relacing job but we have a few volunteers coming down that we need to find jobs for that we don't have to waste too much time supervising so this seemed like a good one.

Steve.

[Sid at SailAway]

This Maui Hookup: The Easy to Use Windsurfing Sail Rigging Tool is what I used to pull the lines tight. Really saves the hands...