Kevlar Steering Rope

[Danny Pigott]

I have a boat that came with 3/8 rope for steering. Anybody know how to tell if this stuff is Kevlar or not.

[25xs]

The "outside" you see is definitely not Kevlar

"Kevlar" is DuPont's trade name for a glass fiber stronger than regular "S" glass... Your rope exterior would normally be layers of soft fiber intended to protect the glass fiber interior strength member.

Look at the END of the cord and fray it open a little and look for a thin, yellow line inside. It may be as small as 80# fishing line filament.

Here is just a random "google" result I grabbed for reference;
http://www.pelicanrope.com/new03.htm

Tom Brockmeyer

[G Stillwill]

Usually the rope isnt that thick as 3/8 would hardly go through the combing pulleys. I use 3/16 V-100 made by New England Rope, it has a breaking strenght of 2500 pounds and is very hard to cut, I use my Kevlar scissors to cut it. The outter covering is Deema , all my boats have this and I wouldnt go back to steel cable as this is much easier to use. I make sure it dont chaff on anything and it last for many seasons. I just replaced it in my boats as it was four seasons old, there wasnt anything wrong it but just to be safe I changed it and at 0.73 a foot its cheap enough plus I like the colors...lol.

[Bill Huson]

you sure, George?

The New England ropes I use have a Dyneema core braid and a polyester braided cover. The poly blocks UV which degrades Dyneema. It is strong stuff - I used 4mm line for shroud lines on a 22' catamaran mast.

[G Stillwill]

Knew the Dyneema was there somewhere3/16 = 5mm

[propnuts]

Question for George

Where are you buying this stuff for 0.73/ft?

[A/B Speedliner]

Many Years ago, Mylar

Many years ago when we were dealers for Keller hardware we would buy coils of Dupont Mylar steering cable. It was a good seller and I was sorry to see it discontinued. It was as strong as the wire steering cable and half the weight. Glad to see there is some thing to replace the Mylar cable.
David

[G Stillwill]

I buy the all the rope from here.

http://www.apsltd.com/c-1485-line.aspx

[sam]

Kelvar and olvar

[G Stillwill]

I should have went and looked it up to be politically correct here is the skinny on V-100

Construction: Polyester Cover w/ 100% Vectran Core

V100’s no stretch performance makes it ideal for static, high load applications. The cover is hard wearing and easy to splice. The outstanding property of the Vectran core is that it shows no sign of stretch or creep at 50% of it’s breaking load. The core is coated for abrasion resistance and UV protection so you can always strip the cover to save weight.

[RFR_Aero]

Vectran is what NASCAR mandates the teams use to tether the spindles, hoods and deck lids to the chassis. Good stuff.

[Danny Pigott]

Rope

I went back an checked and the rope is 1/4. It looks like the Polyester double braids Sta-set-new England to me on Geo's webb. site. It is blue with the white lines and one red line. I cut it and there is no Kevar or anything in it. This is going to be a FEH so i want the best . What do you think back to steel cable? thanks for the input

[form-e one]

i have driven with lots of different ropes for steeing cable over the years,,, ditch it,, the plastic coverd cable we all use way better and better feed back,,,, my 2 cents,,,

[mike_280]

If this is the boat I think it is, then this is what was on there.. Never had any issues. http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...classNum=50131

[G Stillwill]

Hard to believe but the steel cable has a much less breaking strenght then the V-100 which is 2500 pounds.

Galvanized Steel Wire Rope, 7x19 Strand Core, 3/16" Bare OD, 250' Length, 840 lbs Breaking Strength