At 180 Marine we only use Dyneema. This is a great illustration from Colligo Marine on lashing the side stays.
Is Dyneema stronger than Kevlar?
You've probably heard about these fibers' strength-to-weight ratio before. Kevlar® states it is 5 times stronger than steel on an equal-weight basis and Dyneema® boasts an impressive 15 times stronger. ... Kevlar® has a tensile strength of 3620 MPa and Dyneema® has 3600 MPa of tensile strength.
This image shows a nicely finished off lashing using our CSS71 Line Terminator and CSS61 Chainplate Distributor using 5 mm or 3/16” Dyneema line.
You can see the critical hourglass shape that gets tighter as the shroud tension gets tighter. It is very secure but is also allows for easy unlashing. Without the hourglass shape you would need to place the knot at the bottom of the lashing which makes it very painful to lash and unlash.
There is a series of individual half hitches that form the attractive spiral configuration of the lashing. This also creates redundant security ensuring that your lashing will not shake out.
Tensioning
Prior to lashing off please tension the shroud or stay to the desired tension. Tensioning can be achieved in several ways:
1. The best method is to take your boat sailing and adjust the leeward shroud, letting the wind blow the rig to leeward and do the work for you. Tack back and forth in low to moderate winds and keep adjusting the leeward shrouds. Always keep the mast straight and in column. In the end, you want your leeward shrouds to just come loose at your wind reef point, usually about 15-20 knots of wind speed.
2. You can also bring a halyard down and tie it off to your lashing line and use a winch for tensioning. This method will probably mean that you would need to help the lashing line thru all the holes in the line terminators and distributors while at the same time adding tension with the winch. When you are tensioned up and ready, use the following directions to tie off your lashing very securely
Lashing Off
Please note the lashing is started at approximately 1/3 or less of the total lashing distance up from the bottom. This is critical as the knot will not slide down the lashing system due to the hourglass configuration. There are side forces tending to hold the knot up. If this is too high the knot will slide down and your shroud or stay will loosen.
For more great information go to Colligomarine.com