I am going to need to replace replace a halyard on my new tub and I want to do it without taking the mast down.

Is it really as simple as butt joining the old with the new (maybe a bit of stitching/whipping) and gently pulling it all through, or am I missing something? I thought I read on here that to prevent stretch some halyards were spliced into wire rope. Is this a thing of the past with modern rope material?

It really is that simple. I did mine by stitching the 2 together. Took 30 min to do 4 halyards.

On my old girl she still had wire halayards spliced to rope
If your halayards are just rope just butt them up and pull through gently
If it has wire spliced to rope your mast sheaths might be a bit on the small side

I did price the two Ramona. Not quiet triple, but damn close to it

Toph, I know your new boat (Mikado) and on that boat I would not consider anything but Spectra halyards. Wire rope are old school and are a lot more prone to breaking, as well you would have to change the sheaves to wire sheaves.

I have wire spliced to 12mm rope it good no problems but i'm going to change to spectra next time i lower the mast, its just easier

Jode5 said..
Toph, I know your new boat (Mikado) and on that boat I would not consider anything but Spectra halyards. Wire rope are old school and are a lot more prone to breaking, as well you would have to change the sheaves to wire sheaves.

Hi Jode5, yes that's correct. Kind of curious how you concluded that though . I was there one weekend when you came back in (I recognised the name of your Hanse. Very nice.

thanks for your input. I will certainly look into it. Can I ask why though? Is it that polyester will have too much stretch over that length

FreeRadical said..

Get on the mailing list and keep an eye on places like this for specials on spools. They had 33% off for 3 days recently which made their prices hard to beat.

ropesgalore.com.au

Good service from these guys too!!

FreeRadical said..
Looking at replacing halyards now. 12mm spectra for main and headsail, I think double braid poly is fine for spinnaker halyard. I'd only buy quality brands like Donaghys which is common in Aus. Wouldn't trust unknown stuff on eBay. Boat your size, Id reckon you'd regret going cheap!

Get on the mailing list and keep an eye on places like this for specials on spools. They had 33% off for 3 days recently which made their prices hard to beat.

ropesgalore.com.au

Couldn't find "ropesgalore" (plural) but I did find these guys. I assume that is who you meant.

ropegalore.com.au/

Are your halyards 12mm Toph. If so, we could go in together and get 2 x 100m spools which is the cheapest length. That would give us different colours for main and heady. I'm guessing my main about 40m required.

Sorry for the delay McN, I plan on doing mine next week all being good, I will post some pics.

Currently the halyard has to be winched at the mast and the lines in poor condition, its not long enough to reach the cockpit or to put a reef in the main :( Not sure what the previous owner did maybe never did.

The sheeve on the mast head will take both wire and rope but i will check it out and replace if needed.

Now i just gotta work out how the mast lowering set up works.

I got lots to learn.

Cheers

darmah said..
Sorry for the delay McN, I plan on doing mine next week all being good, I will post some pics.

Currently the halyard has to be winched at the mast and the lines in poor condition, its not long enough to reach the cockpit or to put a reef in the main :( Not sure what the previous owner did maybe never did.

The sheeve on the mast head will take both wire and rope but i will check it out and replace if needed.

Now i just gotta work out how the mast lowering set up works.

I got lots to learn.

Cheers

Thanks Darma,

My mast doesn't lower, and I have had trouble with the sheaves. I have replaced the main halyard with smaller diameter spectra but still have trouble raising main. Foresail is wire/rope winched at mast and is a nightmare to pull up. It may be that I will have to replace the sheaves which I will do up the mast, not by pulling the mast out as the local rigger thoought would be necessary. Hoping replacing the wire/rope halyard with spectra will help.

You can sometimes get good spectra from the parasailing guys, they have to replace it regularly even though it is in good nick. But there isn't enough stretch in 12mm double braid to worry a cruising boat.

I am about to re-rig my Lotus 9.2. It is a strong and simple rig being single spreader, non tapered mast with fore and aft lowers, cap shrouds, forestay and backstay with effective tensioner.

I have taken the furler off not to be refitted this time around.

The question is about halyards. I am thinking 12 mm quality double braid for all halyards and whether halyard knots for attaching halyard shackles would be advisable. If I cut the ends off say every 12 months and moved the knots up onto fresh line, that should avoid failure of the attachments wouldn't it??

The yacht will be doing local club racing (only for the sake of using the boat regularly) and cruising from Bundaberg down the Great Sandy Straits and up to the Keppels and maybe the Whitsundays.

All opinions welcome.

Edit:- The rig is 11.5 metres tall.

cisco said..

I am about to re-rig my Lotus 9.2. It is a strong and simple rig being single spreader, non tapered mast with fore and aft lowers, cap shrouds, forestay and backstay with effective tensioner.

I have taken the furler off not to be refitted this time around.

The question is about halyards. I am thinking 12 mm quality double braid for all halyards and whether halyard knots for attaching halyard shackles would be advisable. If I cut the ends off say every 12 months and moved the knots up onto fresh line, that should avoid failure of the attachments wouldn't it??

The yacht will be doing local club racing (only for the sake of using the boat regularly) and cruising from Bundaberg down the Great Sandy Straits and up to the Keppels and maybe the Whitsundays.

All opinions welcome.

Edit:- The rig is 11.5 metres tall.

My yacht is about the same size. I have a pair of spinnaker halyards in 10mm double braid. Pair of headsail halyards and a pair of mainsail halyards in 8mm Spectra. Spinnaker halyards have clips but the working sails have halyard knots. I think cutting off a few inches off the ends every couple years so the wear shifts on the turning sheaves is a good idea.

cisco said..

I am about to re-rig my Lotus 9.2. It is a strong and simple rig being single spreader, non tapered mast with fore and aft lowers, cap shrouds, forestay and backstay with effective tensioner.

I have taken the furler off not to be refitted this time around.

The question is about halyards. I am thinking 12 mm quality double braid for all halyards and whether halyard knots for attaching halyard shackles would be advisable. If I cut the ends off say every 12 months and moved the knots up onto fresh line, that should avoid failure of the attachments wouldn't it??

The yacht will be doing local club racing (only for the sake of using the boat regularly) and cruising from Bundaberg down the Great Sandy Straits and up to the Keppels and maybe the Whitsundays.

All opinions welcome.

Edit:- The rig is 11.5 metres tall.

Hi there, my name is Drew Van Ryn and run a small independent rigging company in the South of Sydney called Wet Tech Rigging.

12mm Polyester would be on the large side for a boat your size, but if you were considering knotting rather than splicing then the strength losses associated with the knot would bring you down towards the spliced strength of 10mm Polyester. If you went with spliced ends, 10mm Polyester would be fine. If you went with Dyneema-cored line you could get away with 10mm for your main halyard and 8mm for your headsail/spinnaker halyards - of course depending on whether your clutches could handle the smaller diameters.

There are plenty of options out there now days to avoid chafe, including utilising Dyneema Chafe Sleeve tips, which reduces diameter, maintains flexibility at the base of the splice and prevents chafe long-term - solving a number of concerns raised in this thread in relation to spliced ends being too bulky.

The benefits of Dyneema-cored lines over Polyester for stretch and strength has been brought up and correctly covered a number of times here already - if you're primarily cruising or your sails are Dacron construction, Polyester is fine. If you race the boat, or your sails are constructed from more exotic low-stretch materials, Dyneema or Vectran cores will extract the full potential out of your gear.

If yourself or anybody else in this thread would like any more information or to get some pricing for your options feel free to give me a call, send me an email or send an enquiry through my website - all my details can be found at http://www.wettechrigging.com.au/contact.

Cheers.