Small Trimarans

Sailor (and fisherman) Jack Molan shared the below with me a few days ago. His story about refurbishing a Brown Searunner trimaran was fascinating all by itself. He tells it in what I’m calling “Part 1″ of this story … which is in the previous post.

But this second part of the story is really cool because many sailors do not know the extent to which synthetic lines are now being used in sailing. Jack shared about a product (synthetic rope/line) that he has worked with for 6 years while fishing in the Bering Sea. (Can you imagine any harsher conditions than that)?

Anyhow, this product doesn’t seem to be as widely used in the sailing industry (yet), but is quickly attracting attention. It’s application and use with trimarans offers many benefits, so I asked Jack to specifically share some details with me so that I could share them with you (the reader). He graciously fulfilled my request, and added this wonderful bit of information along with his story about the Searunner Tri he is now sailing down in Mexico during his breaks from fishing up north.

By the way, with Jack’s help, I’m hoping to offer some more very specific information about this synthetic line product, and how it can be used with small trimarans. Its potential applications are many, including uses for connective systems, sail rigging and trampolines. If you’d like to be put on a list to be notified after I put this information together with Jack (who is an expert using this material) then please do so by clicking here.

And now, here is Jack himself specifically sharing a little about these synthetic lines …

…………………………

I’m very familiar with Dynex Dux. It is, so far, almost unheard of in the sailing world. It is hybrid rope made from SK-75 Dynex. Sk-75 is also sold as spectra, amsteel , etc.

You cannot use regular SK-75 for rigging. It’ll “creep.” But when they take it and heat it and stretch it, it becomes a whole new material.

I have 7mm Dux that weighs 1/9th of wire’s weight. It’s breaking strength is 15,500 lbs … so it replaces 1/4 wire. When wire is new, it’s strength is 6,900 lbs. Also, Dux is coated to resist UV and is rated best of all the synthetics.

Here are some details …

I have used Dynex Dux for the last 6 years in the Bering Sea. I know from experience it is the new replacement for wire. We use it for everything.

I got together in San Carlos with John Franta, a friend of mine, and John has a 38′ cold molded Trimaran in town also. The boat has history of racing the transpacs. Anyhow, I got some Dux and rigged the running backstays, lifelines, and replaced all my halyards. This was 3 years ago. It all worked perfectly. Since then, John has gone on to design fittings that are made specifically for Dynex Dux.

The advantages are so many. No corrosion worries, no fatigue or cycle stress. Lighter up high where it really makes a difference. I saved at least 35 lbs. off my rig … probably more. It costs less money than using stainless, and is stronger, lighter … and you can do it yourself. Beat that.

Below are a few links … with me sharing back and forth with guys about how to do rigging using this material. I truly believe it is a huge shift. There is a under current within the sailing community that doesn’t like this stuff because it came from the fishing industry. Also, it really threatens the big wire and riggers industry. (I mean, think of it, how much is carbon fiber mast and carbon rigging? 50k? I’d have to spend major $ just to get a mast on my boat in order to lighten the rig … or so conventional wisdom goes.

We are finding (thru my supplier) that most guys want us to do the splices and just send them the made up stuff. But I know Tri guys are more real and do this themselves quite simply really. The French and Aussies are all over this stuff. It is happening in other places too.

(Look at Spartalk forum — Brion Toss is highly respected and is very good thinker. Read this:
http://www.briontoss.com/education/archive/miscsept04.htm )

Some big names in the trimaran community are seriously paying attention to this. My supplier is going to be providing the material for rigging a certain line of production trimarans very soon. And other multihull designers are planning to use this rigging for their large catamarans.

Wire is dead.

I have a lot of experience with it in the Bering Sea fishing industry. Our supplier is an Icelantic company that I’ve worked with for 15 years. They haven’t focused at all on the sailboat industry. I just visited their US shop. The are making up 3″ Dynex Dux and putting two layers of overbraid on it now … for the offshore oil industry! They are making miles of it. I know that 1″ offers 82 tons breaking strength.

As far as rigging trimaran nets goes … I have a few ways to attach nets without using any screws now. I’m eliminating screws and holes and SS plates as much as I can, and I have a bunch of ideas about no more SS chainplates or big plates coming up through the deck for the stays … the rope will do it all.

Europeans are already using the same stuff I’m using on their sailboats now — Dynex SK-75. They’re making chainplates with it, as well as any deck fittings. But they’re using high end, expensive stuff. We can do the same with an inexpensive piece of rope and some good old trimariner smarts … :-)

Interested in learning more about this new material? Are you possibly interested in how to use it on your trimaran/sailboat to increase efficiency, while saving money, weight and set up time? If you haven’t done so yet, and you’d like to be included on the list to be notified when I put this information together with Jack (who is an expert using this Dynex Dux) then please do so by clicking here to go to the next page.

Here is a great article by Jack about the Dux published at Duckworksmagazine.com.

The following Forum threads contain more information about Jack’s trimaran and even more pics of the synthetic roping …
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f116/synthetic-standing-rigging-10078.html
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f116/any-updates-on-synthetic-rigging-18184.html
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f48/synthetic-searunner-22345.html
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f48/trimaran-esp-searunner-owners-14322-23.html

The following collection of pictures at “Photobucket” offer more views of Jack’s Searunner … with some pictures of a variety of uses for this Synthetic material on board his trimaran …

http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c305/jmolan/Alaska%20stuff/Synthetic%20Searunner/?albumview=slideshow

http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c305/jmolan/Alaska%20stuff/Synthetic%20Searunner/

Tags: Duckworks Magazine, DuckworksMagazine.com, Dynex Dux, SK-75, SK-75 Dynex, Synthetic marine rope, synthetic rope

This entry was posted on Friday, January 23rd, 2009 at 4:48 am and is filed under Small Tri Info - All, Trimaran Design, Rigging, Construction Info/Links. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.