mark_herrington
Hi,
Just thinking about renewing the mainsheet and was wondering what people generally use. Suggestions so far….
8mm matt braid (is this too thin?)
10mm matt braid
8mm Dyneema (is this too expensive?)
Thoughts would be welcome.
Also, just wondering if anyone knows the length of the sheet?
thanks
Mark
jonpanda
GBR8088N
nickdawson
Mattbraid is good as its easier on the hands which is important, and for the same reason I wouldn’t go less than 10mm diameter. Stretch not so important as you constantly adjust the mainsheet anyway and a little give in a really big gust isn’t a bad thing anyway!! Have you got a normal 4:1 mainsheet? I’ll measure the distance from the traveller to the block on the boom if you like this weekend so you can work out how much you need. Ebay is a fantastic source of ropes – check out “Outdoor Xscape” 
You can always have a floating block off a strop on the boom, as this reduces the length of rope needed and also reduces weight, but you do have a block flailing around during gybes which isn’t always a good idea. 
regards,
Nick
Robert Davis
Like you I need to replace the mainsheet that I bought with the boat. The agricultural piece of rope on the boat is not fit for purpose.
My thoughts are that it is important that there is as little stretch as possible so a dynema core is probably required. Weight (when wet) is also important. There is a lot of mainsheet out when on the run and it would be nice if the boom would stay against the shroud without having to lean on it. A heavy rope will sag and prevent this.
There are some fabulous ropes around at fabulous prices but I have already spent too much this winter!
From all the numbers that I have looked at so far Excel Lite looks the best bet with it’s dynema core, light weight and lack of water absorption. I would anticipate that it will need to be 10mm.
Anybody got any better ideas?