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Ultimate Cord/Guylines?
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Aug 11, 2010 at 12:15 am #1262136
I've been wondering if pure dyneema braided fishing line would be the ultimate for light weight guylines/cord since it's cheap, unbelievable light and reasonable strong.
On eBay you can get braided dyneema/spectra fishing line in a variety of weights, but 100lb test might be the sweet spot. You can buy a 100 meter (330 ft) roll of it for $6 Buy It Now with free shipping. At 1/45" thick and with a breaking strength of 100 lbs it seems adequately strong for guylines. Compare this to BPL 'Aircord 1' which is 1/25" thick spectra with a breaking strength of 216 lbs and a cost of $17 for 50 feet. Aircord 1 is 0.004oz (or .11g) per foot and this cord would likely be no more than half of that. Honestly, there wouldn't be much of a weight savings over AirCord 1, but it is lighter and this stuff is a lot cheaper plus it might be more visible due to the apparently bright colors.
It also comes in a range of colors including bright yellow. Just search 'spectra fishing 100lb' on eBay.
What do you guys think? It might be slightly annoying to handle because it's so thin? I think it would be fine for applications where you aren't regularly tying knots. It would definitely be too thin for bear bagging. For $6 you could replace every guyline and drawstring in your kit.
Aug 11, 2010 at 2:00 am #1636668I've got stuff like that, and I have used it a fair bit. It works very well, but making some sort of adjustment (knot or toggle) is hard.
But then, I have had great joy with fixed-length guy ropes of this stuff, and just move the stake. Lighter than having toggles of any sort.
Cheers
Aug 11, 2010 at 8:09 am #1636711I just bought a spool of the 100lb line.
I paid $7.99 w/free shipping.
I want to compare it to the line sold in the guide line kits via BPL, which I just pick up too.
Looks like it would be great cord for stuff sacks, as well.
Z.
Aug 11, 2010 at 8:53 am #1636727Just an FYI: Any knots you tie in that cord are going to reduce it's breaking strength significantly, from like 30-70% depending on the knot. It's probably not a problem though, since the actual breaking strength could easily be 3x the 100lb rating depending on how conservative the manufacturer is.
Aug 11, 2010 at 8:02 pm #1636898I personally prefer my Kelty Triptease. For my guy lines and ridgeline on my tarp, I like to have the reflectiveness, especially for those middle of the nights, groggy constitutionals.
It is pretty thin as reflective cord goes (1.75mm I believe)has a pretty good breaking strength and weighs less than an ounce for 50'.
Only downside is it is pretty expensive at usually ~$15/50' of line… but worth it IMHO. If there are other reflective cords out there with the same specs that anyone knows of and is cheaper I'd certainly be open to it.
Aug 11, 2010 at 11:06 pm #16369361.6mm spectra weighs ~0.5oz for 50 feet, so I would expect this 0.55mm stuff to weigh .1-.2 oz for 50 feet. Perhaps there is something you could do to it to make it more visible like give it a quick spray with reflective or glow in the dark paint. I dunno if this would last or not.
Aug 12, 2010 at 8:27 am #1636993not sure how knots would hold with the fishing line but i like to use prussic loops on the end of my guylines anyway. you eliminate knots and have great flexibility in adjusting your lines
Aug 12, 2010 at 8:40 am #1636999"not sure how knots would hold with the fishing line but i like to use prussic loops on the end of my guylines anyway."
Have you tried this with a thin spectra line? I tried it with other tension-adjusting knots and found that while it would tighten the lines, it'd slip with little provocation.
Aug 12, 2010 at 11:17 am #1637040I like TarpTent's answer. They use Kelty Triptease reflective lines W/ their own very light and very reliable plastic tensioners.
The weight difference between the Spectra 100# test braided fishing line and Triptease's ease of use/reflectivity can't be enough to get me to go with the fishing line. Getting even TT's excellent plastic tensioners to work with the slippery fishing line may be difficult.
Aug 12, 2010 at 12:01 pm #1637048Triptease = 0.82g per foot
1/25" Spectra (AirCord 1) = 0.11g/foot
100lbs Test Spectra Fishing Line = estimated 0.04g/footShelters really vary, but if yours uses quite a bit of guyline then there is going to be a significant weight difference. 50 feet of TripTease is 41g (1.45oz) whereas 50 feet of 100 lbs Test would be just 2g or under 0.1oz. If you want something that will work with your tensioners than Aircord 1 from BPL should work and still would weigh only ~6g instead of 41g.
I will still use thicker cord on key shelter guyouts that I want to retain the ability to adjust the tension but I think the fishing line will be perfect for secondary stake out points where you don't need adjustability.
Aug 12, 2010 at 2:17 pm #1637066I have been quite happy with my braided Spectra/Dyneema (UHMWPE) fishing line guylines. Whoopie slings (with a longish pass-through) work perfectly for length adjustment. Several companies make 16-strand braids for saltwater fishing that splice easily and make very secure whoopie slings. The more common 12-strand braids are cheaper and work fine, too.
Aug 13, 2010 at 12:22 pm #1637270Pretty much an easier to see version of trip tease. Knots tie/untie easily. Ok, so it's not as light as the other stuff mentioned, but when it comes to a few grams I don't get too worked up.
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