How to Make a Continuous Loop with Polyester Rope

[dkinzer]

On our main furler there is a continuous loop of 10 mm polyester line that runs through two clutches in the cockpit to turning blocks at the base of the mast and around the furling winch on the mast. I have read that some clutches are specially made to allow an existing continuous loop to be placed in them but I don't think that mine are that way. Even if they were, the two turning blocks at the base of the mast pose a problem because the sheaves cannot be easily removed from them.

My conclusion is that in order to replace the furler line the existing one will need to be cut and the ends of the new line will need to be fused after the line is run. Can anyone provide any insight as to how polyester line is fused?

 

[shemandr]

When I replaced the furling line on my H356 I had to have a rigger come to the boat and splice the new line. I replaced the line because I felt it was too stretchy. The low stretch line changed the sailing characteristics of the boat so much that I was happy to pay the rigger. It was probably the best upgrade I made to the sailing characteristics of the boat. When a gust hit the boat would lean over, accelerate and come back up faster. Beautiful!
I beg you to use ultra low stretch line. Double braid polyester isn't adequate. Pay the man.

 

[Jake N Eggs]

Here is the Selden instructions. In short, it looks like the two outer casings replace the inner core in the area of the splice. I have not don it yet but I will have to soon, probably this year. Note that the join is sewn together. There are full end to end splices that leave a double line which obviously will not work in this situation.

 

[jssailem]

The term is “splice” not “ fuse”.

Here is a YouTube video of the technique.

A rigger will be able to accomplish this in 30 minutes or less. Done on the boat

 

[flightlead404]

I did this on my boat last year. It is true that the winch on the Selden IMF has a notch that allows the line to be inserted mid-way around. However you'll still need to get it through the blocks and clutches. I don't see how you could get it into the clutches and the blocks would have to be disassembled.

I spliced it in place after reeving through all the gear. It was the first splice on double braid I ever did. I did it twice. Second time was nice and it held perfectly for a year so far. I did put some stitches through to stabilize it as well. Not difficult.

However, next time I will put a 1/2 twist in the line before splicing. Its not a major problem but would help some.

 

[dkinzer]

I did this on my boat last year.

Did you use double braid polyester or something else? Also, did you just use standard whipping twine or something else for the stiching?

 

[jssailem]

Double braid polyester works for this task. It is not under constant strain so the 3-5% stretch does will not affect the furling function.
The splice handles 90+% of the rope grip on itself. Regular whipping twine is all that is needed to lock the line in place. Standard two directional lock stitch will hold the splice.