2.5mm Dyneema SK78 Rope Rig 12

Two into one.

I bought the 2.5mm dyneema for a special winch/pulley project which needs to pull two sides of a cradle exactly simultaneously for about a meter. Originally I was going to create loops on both the LHS and the RHS, then loop them together onto a 3mm dyneema rope. This gave me two issues : firstly the "knot" would be large and may rub on the cradle (not much room available), secondly there was no redundancy if the 3mm dyneema was to fail. So I then looked at splitting the drum on the winch into 2 halves so I could wind on both the RHS and LHS 2.5mm ropes on together. This would give redundancy if one leg was to fail but it would not guarantee simultaneous pulling. Then I had a brainwave. I spliced the 2 x 2.5mm together and then fed a 1.5meter tail through the middle creating a combined rope of approx 3.5mm diameter. I then wound this onto the drum of the winch as a single rope. This would ensure simultaneous pulling, and also provide redundancy if say the outer sheath was abraded and failed - also there was no significant "knot" so it fitted in neatly in the space available. It was a bit of a fiddle pulling the tail through but not really difficult with the D-splicing tool. All in all, I am very impressed with the dyneema and I am glad I did not choose a wire rope for this application.

Watch this space...

Needed a replacement forestay for my Streaker dinghy. This is working brilliantly, although I am aware of the potential 'catastrophic failure' scenario. Great for an emergency spare.

Arrived quickly, easy to splice

Good price, arrived quickly, 2.5mm dyneema was easy to splice with one of those fids that's made from a loop of thin wire.