Dinghy dock at Bequia.

A couple of weeks ago we were sitting at the local internet bar waiting to log on to the web, and chatting with a table full of cruisers similarly occupied. The subject turned to chafe, and the problems everyone seemed to be having.

This led the two of us to thinking about our own chafe problems, and we suddenly realized that it’s been a long time since we’ve had a problem.

In the olden days, on our 50′ (15m) Intermezzo, chafe on our passages was a continual battle. Every four hours one of us walked the decks checking running and standing rigging. We often would have to re-arrange the leads on our sheets, or ease/rim a hair so the same spot wasn’t rubbing. With the 62′ (19m) Intermezzo ll the problem was less, but still there. Sundeer (67’/20.5m) was a bit of an improvement again. Now with Beowulf, by far the most powerful design, chafe problems have all but been eliminated.

We take the same care with hardware layout and usage as in the past, so the difference must be in the low stretch line that is now available.

On Beowulf all our halyards are Spectra or Vectran. Jib, main, and mizzen sheets are Spectra, and runners are Vectran. We’ve seen almost no chafe on any of our halyards – even those used for the spinnakers and masthead jibs. With close to 25,000 miles on the boat, the spinnaker halyards have been cut back perhaps four times.

There two areas where we have had some chafe. The first is on the vang tackles for the main boom. These were originally specified in low stretch dacron construction – to allow some stretch and reduce shock loading. However, we found that we were generating chafe on the blocks, and it was noisy – the blocks squeaked a bit under high loads. The other area was the reef pennants, particularly the mainsail.

Both of these areas have been replaced with Spectra and the chafe seems to have been eliminated.

While Spectra is more chafe resistant inherently than dacron, all our Spectra and Vectran have polyester covers, to make handling easier and protect them from sun exposure – so it is dacron that’s being worn first. This leaves the elimination of stretch as the primary reason for the reduction in chafe.

If you can stop the line moving over the clew of the mainsail, or the masthead sheave, if that line stays still, then there is no reason for it to chafe.

While these high modulus Spectra and Vectran lines are more costly than dacron, their resistance to chafe sould make them more cost efficient over time. In addition, you save weight aloft, and if compared to 7 x 19 stainless halyards, they are both lighter and less costly.

We’re starting to think about the passage north to Bermuda. Beowulf is chafing at the bit to stretch her legs at sea, and the crew is about ready too.