Highly Strung

As with so many other things on our 1987 Pearson 39-2 project boat, the lifelines looked to be original equipment. Made of vinyl-coated 3/16in 7x7 stainless steel wire, they were bleeding rust where the sheathing had cracked, and it was obvious they needed to be replaced. The only question was, with what?

For years sailors only had to choose between coated and uncoated wire for lifelines. Now, the increasing uses on board of the low-stretch, superstrong fiber Dyneema have spread to the humble lifeline. I’d replaced the rusted-out lifelines on our previous boat with coated wire, but now I wasn’t sure which way to go. I began by summarizing the pros and cons of each approach.

COATED STAINLESS STEEL WIRE

looks good, comfortable to hold, low chafe potential where sheets or other lines come into contact, long lifespan. More fiddly to work with, eventually the vinyl coating hardens and cracks, corrosion spreads inside the sheath and can be impossible to detect before it’s too late. Needs swaged or crimped end fittings so can be finicky to DIY.