Keeping ahead of chafe
Chafe is one of the greatest enemies of a boater. In the past couple of months alone, we replaced several lines on One Love that had fallen victim to it. At the suggestion of our friend Drew, who has spent considerable time studying the effects of chafe and chafe prevention, we are testing out a relatively new product called Maxijacket.
Last season, for no small amount of money, we replaced One Love’s anchor bridle as it was showing considerable wear. There are two places on the bridle that are particularly prone to chafe: where the thimbles connect to each bow, and on the center section that rides over the anchor and up into the anchor roller. As we were on the dock yesterday preparing for our charter, I took advantage of that period of non-use to coat those two areas with Maxijacket. We’ll see how that helps.
There are a number of other chafe-prone areas that I also intend to apply the Maxijacket. When I get a suitable break, that is.
Mike do you believe this would reduce chafe on halyards that go through blocks?
For specific questions on it I would suggest that you post on Drew’s blog on the link that I included above. He could give you a real answer. Or perhaps he’ll comment here.
Yes, Maxjacket will do that. Any rough surface chafe that does not include a sharp cutting edge. The uses I have been most happy with are docklines and snubbers, halyard and rope-to-chain splices, and main halyard in the area of the jammer. It reduces wear 5-10x (I had a measured test rig).
There are only 3 down-sides:
1. It stiffens the line a lot. You probably won’t like it where you have to handle the line a lot, like on a winch.
2. It does not provide the protection of real chafe gear where there are truly sharp edges. But really, you should smooth the edges. Works great against slight rough or high-load situation across smooth surfaces, like fairleads and carabiners under load. Use where there isn’t room for real chafe gear (webbing).
3. The colored stuff rubs off. Get clear.
One coat, soaked in as deep as possible. Really slop it on. Needs several days to dry to best effect, but dry to touch in a few hours. I’ve had it in use for several years.
Thanks for commenting.
Mike, yes please give us an update in six months on the effectiveness of this product. Thanks!
Will do.
That looks like awesome stuff. Too bad you didn’t post this last week. When I ran into in front of that marine store in Crown Bay I was buying some silicon tape to wrap some of our lines and sheets because of chafing, the guy at the chanderlery swore that the tape would work. Needless to say I wasted 20 bucks, the tape was similar to rescue tape but thiner and had more stretch I would not recomond it for chafing points. Let us know how this product holds up.
Thanks for your wonderful insights.
When I see you next ask me about it. I can give you a bit if you like.