Dealing with chafe: Headstay

Chafe can seriously effect the longevity of your synthetic rigging. The best method to avoid the problem is to make sure that no two lines rub past each other. 

---

In situations like the headstay, avoiding chafe is not possible since the sail hanks attach directly to it and will slide, shimmy, and jiggle around; sawing into your headstay and destroying it in no time. To mitigate this, special steps must be taken.  

Chafe sleeve
Service (wrapping) the ends of the stay
Soft Hanks

The headstay itself must be wrapped in a sacrificial covering, the covering will suffer chafe and be replaced before any damage happens to the stay. I recommend using the chafe sleeve by New England Ropes, designed for protecting dyneema. The covering is rather tricky to replace though, requiring the splice at one end to be removed so the old cover can be removed and a new cover installed. To further prolong the life of the chafe sleeve, I also service the ends of the stay with thin dyneema.

This line is 7/64" and wrapped tightly around the stay using a serving mallet.  The process is very time consuming, taking around an hour for a few feet of the stay. The service protects the chafe sleeve in the areas of highest wear: the head and the tack. Since these areas will wear out sooner than the rest of the stay, they can simply be unwound and re-serviced without having to undo the splices.

Another method to mitigate chafe is by using soft hanks. I had my sail maker place a nylon webbing that loops over the stay and the bronze hank is located on the side. This keeps the bronze hank from cutting through the fibers when under load, as the soft nylon spreads the loads over a broad area rather than a sharp point load.

How to apply service

Now that we have discussed what service can do, you must be wondering how can a line be wrapped so tightly and uniformly? The answer is a mallet! A Serving Mallet to be precise.

Serving mallets are simply tools created by riggers to best apply service. You can't buy them, you have to make your own, and they are all different. I have met riggers who use mallets that look like hammers and have large handles, others that look like small forks. They all tend to be made of hardwoods, but I have once seen an old stainless steel chainplate used as a serving mallet. 

The principles that you want to keep in mind when making your serving mallet are:

Comfortable in your hands
Light weight
Spool of service line attached to handle
Holds itself in place
Able to get into small places

I have seen some mallets that look like a sledge hammer, but they are unable to work the ends of the lines near thimbles and they require a lot of open space to spin them around. Others don't have a way to attach the spool of service line to the end and require a second person to pass the line around as you apply the service. 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worm,_parcel_and_serve#/media/File:A_useful_instruction_for_sailors.jpg

When I made mine, I used a hickory hammer handle, cut a groove into the end and lashed a paint roller frame to it. This holds the spool of service line so that I can do it alone without the aid of someone to pass the line along with me. I cut a groove in the side of the hammer end and that holds it to the line. By doing a series of wraps, the mallet stays firmly attached to the stay and provides enough resistance to tightly wrap the line around the stay. Being how the head is thin, I can service all the way to the very end of the stays, right up to the thimble. 

If you search "serving mallet" in Google:Images, you will see they almost all have grooves cut into them. These were not there when they were new. As thousands of feet of service line pass down the same path on the mallet, grooves will begin to take form. They are wonderful when they do as they will help guide the line along the appropriate path. Because each mallet is the creation of the rigger and the construction of his thoughts and needs, they don't seem to want to sell them (at least they weren't selling them when I was looking for one and had to make my own). 

Service might seem like an easy concept, and it is! You just have to keep a lot of tension on the line and wrap it very tightly. There can't be any overlapping lines, it must be completely flat and smooth. If there is variability in the tension, it will lead to variability in the wrapping. While it is easy to wrap a line over and over, starting and stopping are a bit complicated. If you want to service your own line, send me an email (riggingdr@gmail.com) to let me know and I can post more detailed instructions with a video of how to start and how to finish the service.

What is Line Service?

Line Service is one of the oldest ways to protect a line from chafe and wear. It was used on tall ships to protect the halyards where they would pass through shivs, where dock lines would pass through hawse pipes, and where stays would be subjected to chafe. When steel rigging first started, service was used to prevent rust and protect the cable from the elements.

Three strand line was traditionally used for everything on a boat. It was the sheets, halyards, stays, lashings, dock lines, steering cables, ect. In locations where it was going to be subjected to a lot of wear, it would be "Wormed, Parceled, and Serviced". 

Worming is the process of filling in the grooves between the lays with a smaller cord. Then the line is Parceled, which involves wrapping a cloth soaked in tar over the line to hold the worming in place and smooth the outer surface of the lines. 3 lay would have 3 peaks that would chafe more and 3 valleys. Worming fills these valleys and the parceling covers them up. Worming and parceling go with the lay of the line, while service goes against the lay. It is important to parcel the line starting at the bottom of the line working your way up with each wrap overlapping the next. This will create a shingle effect, helping to keep water from entering the line when it is set up as a stay. The tar helps to seal out any voids that might be left, further preventing the ingress of water which could lead to degradation of the line.

Lastly, the line is serviced. Service is applied opposite to the lay of the line. The reason is, as the line is stretched, it will straighten out a bit; unwinding its lays just a bit. If the service were applied with the lay as worming and parceling were, the service would loosen when the line is stretched. By going against the lay, it will actually tighten even more when the line is tensioned. After the line is set up, it must be coated in slurry to help keep it waterproof. Slurry is a combination of stockholm tar, varnish, and black paint. The idea is to refresh the tar so that it keeps water out while forming an external hardened layer that won't rub off.

Hemp rope needed to stay away from water to prevent rot, whereas nylon is much more resistant to rot. Nylon rope still benefits from service to prevent chafe, but doesn't need the slurry or tar applied. This allows nylon rope to be parceled using "Friction Tape" usually marketed as Hockey Stick tape.

Galvanized wire really benefits from worm, parcel, and service. Galvanized wire is more rust resistant due to its coating, but with time, the galvanized layer will wear off and corrosion will set in. By shielding it from the elements, galvanized wire can be protected in a cocoon of tar and slurry where it will remain indefinitely. In this environment, it won't suffer oxidation because there is no air exposure and it won't corrode because there is no moisture present. 

Galvanized rigging that is worm, parceled, and serviced sounds amazing! But if there is any lapse in maintenance, corrosion could set in and there would be no way of inspecting it. If you opt for this type of rigging, you must commit to regularly climbing the mast and painting slurry on all sides of each stay. My concern was if I went away for a month on vacation or if the harsh part of winter lasted for too long, my maintenance would lapse and the problems could set in. Doubt would set in and I would begin to worry about the condition of my rigging. For this reason, I went with synthetics as the maintenance schedule is much more relaxed and inspection is very simple.

Synthetic rigging can benefit from service as well. Areas that will be chafed can be wrapped to form a sacrificial coating that can be replaced when needed. Since dyneema is braided, it doesn't need to be wormed. Since it doesn't suffer from rot, it doesn't need to be parceled. Lastly, since there is no lay to the line, service can be wrapped in either direction (clockwise or anti-clockwise).

Areas that certainly need service are the section on the cap shroud that passes through the spreader tip. Areas that are highly recommended to service are the ends of the headstay where the hanks will be under the most force. These areas will wear first and service helps prolong the life of the stay.

How much chafe is too much?

Dyneema is a wonderful synthetic fiber that is lighter and stronger than comparably sized steel. While its strength is unmatched, chafe is its weakness. But how much chafe can the stay withstand? When is it considered a structural concern?

The only way to accurately determine how much strength is left in the line is to perform a destructive pull test, which destroys the line. A study was performed by Samson to determine if there was a correlation between visual cues and residual strength left in the line.

Abrasion, or chafe, lead to broken filaments in the line spread out over a large area of the line. This will result in a fuzzy appearance to the line which will be our visual cue as to how damaged the line is and what the estimated remaining residual strength is.

The visual scale runs from 1 to 7, 1 being minimal damage and 7 being severely damaged.

Source: http://samsonrope.com/PublishingImages/Currents/July%202014/04C_Pocket_Guide_Image.jpg

The general guidelines are:

1 and 2, safe to continue using
3, 4, and 5, consult and expert
6 and 7, retire the line

External wear is caused by chafe, over loading, and UV damage. Internal wear is caused by passing the line through repeated severe bends and introduction to rough substrate, such as working the line through gravel. 

Internal damage is more likely to occur in other uses, such as pulling a log through a forest, where the line is dragged along the dirt forest floor. 

In the world of standing rigging, internal damage is not such a concern. The stays are fed through thimbles to ensure that they have proper radius bends, and they are not worked through the bends regularly. It is a one time thing and then they are set for life. The rigging won't be exposed to gravel, but I haven't found any information about salt crystal exposure. Regardless, there is minimal movement in the stay, so internal abrasion should be a minimal occurrence.

External wear is a concern though. The outer fibers will be exposed to UV, which will cause some degradation, but they will protect and shield the internal fibers from further UV damage. This will eventually lead to a fuzzy layer around the whole stay, placing it in category 1 or 2, thus still safe to use. Since this damage is minimal, I don't recommend using a sun cover, as it would add bulk and windage.

As far as chafe goes, all damage will be located on the outer layer of the fibers and usually only on specific areas where the chafing occurs. When these areas begin to show up as a localized fuzziness, a chafe cover can be applied to protect the stay from further damage. 

As long as you keep an eye out for chafe, you will be able to catch any problems early and make the necessary alterations to protect it from chafing further. This way, any damage will be confined to grades 1 or 2 where there is no structural loss of strength yet.

Remember, dyneema is incredibly strong and is many times stronger than needed to hold the mast up since it is sized based on creep. Even if you catch a chafe point after damage has occurred, it will probably still be strong enough to get you home to make repairs.

The wonderful part of synthetic standing rigging is problems are very easy to spot. You never have to worry about a separated wire inside the 1x19 bundle, or stress hardening of your swagged fittings. Dyneema is just a fancy rope! If you are able to tell when a sheet or halyard looks torn up and needs replacement, then you can also look and tell when the dyneema stay is torn up and needs replacement.

To sum it up, chafe left unchecked can destroy the rigging. By checking the rigging often, you will be able to catch problem areas in their early stages before damage occurs and make alterations to protect it from further damage. Chafed areas also have tell tale signs that are easy to spot, as they appear fuzzy. External damage will occur but the internal fibers of the stay will be unharmed. Look at it often, and you will be able to fix it yourself allowing you to keep sailing, no matter where you find yourself!

Recap on Tuning of your Standing Rigging

Now that we have gone through how to adjust each stay, we will go over the whole thing so you can see how it all plays together.

You start by setting the length needed for the headstay and setting the mast rake.
Then you tension the backstay to tighten both the headstay and backstay at the same time
Now you make sure the mast rake is correct and the tensions are sufficient.

With that you are mostly done with the fore-aft adjustment. On to the side to side adjustment!

You start at the top and work your way down.

For single spreader rigs:

Cap Shrouds
Forward Lowers
Aft Lowers

Cap Shrouds make the mast head centered over the boat and keep it there while sailing. This stay is the tightest of the shrouds.

Forward Lowers are the following in the sequence and are tightened to induce a forward bend in the mast. They also adjust the side to side bend of the mast. They are looser than the cap shrouds but tighter than the aft lowers.

Aft lowers are the last to be adjusted and are set to straighten out any little curve that might be present in the lower section of the mast.

The shrouds in order from most tight to least tight are cap shrouds, forward lowers, aft lowers.  

---

Now that you have finished this, it is time to go out sailing during light airs to make sure everything is fine, then again in stronger winds to test it out fully and make sure the mast stays in column while sailing.

If something is not set right, the mast will bend and you should fix it immediately. For this reason, I strongly suggest you test in light airs first, as they will not cause damage as easily as strong airs.

Imagine winds where you need to reef because a properly tuned rig is being stressed.
Now imagine that scenario where the rig is not properly tuned and starts to bend excessively! If the mast bends too far, it can kink and collapse! For this reason, always start off in light airs and move to stronger airs as a final check to make sure everything is perfect.