Good morning everyone,

I have been remiss in posting lately. This is due to a number of factors, least of which is my aversion to typing. But to be fair to myself, there have been a number of issues with Shanti as of late.

1) Batterys are shot. I am replacing them and moving there postion in the boat from aft to forward. More to come on that.

2) The drive train is all messed up. Have broken both engine mounts on the starboard side. The cutlass bearing is screwed as is the stern tube. Will be hauling out shortly for repairs. I will report on causes and solutions.

3) Right now I am in a discussion re: lee helm over on the BCC forum. Basically I have moved the fairlead position with a new jib. Now the jib sheets just forward of the chain plates instead of back by the life line gate. The result has been bad lee helm …  and it sucks! Go to http://www.samlmorse.com/forum/read.php?5,9644 to follow along. I will Post more here once I have a little time between getting all this stuff fixed.

Oh, and by the way, my rigging is working very well as is my new jib furling set up. I am extremely pleased with both.

Cheers, Gary

One of the key elements of deciding to use this new synthetic rigging is data. It will help people decide if they want to take this route and give them something to compare to a known quantity (wire rigging).

First here is a cost comparison for cost between wire and Dynex Dux. Basically I went shopping on the web to find prices. So there may be some figures that are a Little high or low compared to what you may find. Keep in mind that this would be the equivalent of replacing your rigging wire and your turnbuckles. Although if you have your original stainless turnbuckles, it may be getting time to replace them for many of you. See pics of my turnbuckles. Click here to see cost comparison spreadsheet.

Second, here is a weight comparison between 3 different wire setups for the BCC and a Dynex rig. Click here to see weight comparison spreadsheet.

I will be adding more data to this post as it is found, submitted or developed. There has been a lot of discussion about the diameter of the fittings to use with Dynex Dux. The manufacturer recommends 5/1. So if you are using 9mm Dynex, your splice has to go around a fitting that is at least 45mm. Erik Precourt has obtained data from the manufacturer that gives % loss in strength for a range of diameter ratios. As soon as I have it I will post it here. This should be interesting.

More to come!