how much rope.

[jm]

Can someone give me an estimate of how much, and what size and type of rope/sheet I need to re-fit the main and foresail of an '82 Catalina25 Tall Rig..

 

[Dave]

Sheets

JM; Look in the Sailboat Hardware section of your West Marine catalog. They have an excellent advisor on running rigging. Catalina 25 Genoa sheets I highly recommend New England Rope Sta-set 3/8" about 1.5 times the boat length. For the main sheet, use the same line 3/8" Sta-set, buy enough to let the boom all the way out to the shrouds. I have redone all the running rigging on 3 different boats of my own and several of my friends and I believe that New England Ropes makes some of the best in the world. Sta-set for sheets and vangs, and Sta-setX for halyards. Their 3 strand nylon is best for anchor rodes. It is all I have on my boat.Good luck and fair windsDave, S/V Westwind

 

[Joe]

New England .....

... ropes are excellent, as are Yale and Samson. However I find that putting an eyesplice in the Sta-set X is difficult because of the wrapped, parallel core. A rigging shop will charge you 10 to 20 bucks more than an eyesplice on a braided core rope. If you don't want the hassle, I'll bet you can order pre-fitted halyards with eyesplice and shackle for your C25 from just about any mail order, on line, or local chandlery.

 

[John]

Ask the factory

Catalina can fax you the engineering drawing for the rigging types, sizes and lengths for your boat. Call them at 1-818-884-7700 and ask for technical support. I am replacing all ofthe runningrigging on my C-36, and have selected New England Ropes brand. They have a nice web site at www.neropes.com. I recently read in "Desireable and Undesireable Characteristics of Offshore Yachts" that a knot is preferred from halyard to shackle rather than an eye splice for several reasons including: the halyard can be easily changed end to end when it wears; an eyesplice and shackle, if hoisted into the sheave, can damage both. Caution, however, since knots can significantly weaken high-tech low-stretch ropes, and there may be specific recommendations in this regard from the maker.jv