cisco said..

FreeRadical said..
I use a halyard hitch. its neat and compact, which is good for halyards.

That would be one of these then???

Yep, that's it Cisco. I use snap shackles on the Jib and Spinnaker halyards, and captive pin D shackle on the main. I like the knot as it's also a good stopper that won't wedge in the sheave/block. For the spinnaker sheets I spliced the snap shackles on which was a bit frustrating until I got the method completely sorted.

frant said..
Actually Cisco I would go for a 2 to 1 halyard of 8mmm on your boat for the main halyard. More rope but you finish up with less weight aloft. I am probably a rope Nazi as I will not tolerate frayed, bleached, or poorly whipped and spliced lines. Step on a boat, look at lines and you can make an instant judgement of the owner!

I don't understand the less weight aloft bit

Can anyone please explain

Regards Don

cisco said..

Donk107 said..

I don't understand the less weight aloft bit

Can anyone please explain

Regards Don

Because of the height (length of the lever) any extra weight aloft wil be multiplied and has a serious effect on stability.

Hi Cisco

I understand that but why would you need 2 to 1 8 mm when i would imagine that single line 8mm Dyneema would do the job nicely

Regards Don

Donk107 said..

Hi Cisco

I understand that but why would you need 2 to 1 8 mm when i would imagine that single line 8mm Dyneema would do the job nicely

Regards Don

Well I am not sure that I "need" 2:1 halyards and I have not yet seen how it would be set up.

Because I will mainly cruise and my sails are not very new and are white dacron...??, I am thinking for economy and simplicity, new prestretched double braid will be an improvement over my existing wire to rope halyards.

Thanks FreeRad. I will get a set. The splicing would be virtually impossible without them I believe.

cisco said..

There are some great vids on the Choobe for splicing double braid which I will follow and practice on some of my spare lines.

I will have to watch very carefully to see at which point the line is put through the eye of a snap shackle.

Oh yeah, I made a really good one, after which I saw the snap shackle sitting alone on the bench. Doh!

as a beginner, I found getting the core back down the rope can be tricky, it's easy to get the fid caught on the opposite core and it will end up real messy.

the other tip I found was at the very end, tie off the rope to a fixed pole like on a pergola and use a short broom handle type piece through the eye to pull the cover over. The video makes it look easy, but I found it needed a hard pull To get it into the final shape.

Also, before you start with a long length of rope, tie off a figure of 8 about 1-2 metres in, so you're only playing about with the last bit.

lastly, practice with a couple of metres of new 10mm poly braid, trying to do it on old stuff will do your head in.

and lastly lastly, keep a bottle of wine handy to subdue the errors.