Halyard and sheet size,s

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allangray3

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Would appreciate help from some of you more experienced sailors. I have bought a second hand Boat and am concerned about the condition of the Halyards and to a lesser extent the Sheets. There seems to be three different sizes on main mast, and a couple on the mizzen. Is there a formula or such to calculate the sizes of the halyards to do the different jobs required of them or is it a case of using what will fit the mast head rollers. AH I know you wil ask its a 31' macwester Wight.
 
G'day Allan3,

Just how long do you want this bit of string?

The thickness of the lines / sheets will depend on the material, the block and pulley sizes they pass over as well the systems used to secure them such as jammers and clutches.

You can reduce the size required by using some of the more exotic (and expensive) ropes available.

Your first check should be what equipment you have in the way of sheaves, blocks and stoppers, then you can decide if you can or even need to replace some bits.

I hope this helps.

Avagoodweekend......
 
Re: Halyard and sheet sizes

As well as limitations/demands of blocks & stoppers, halyard size/strength must accommodate what strains you apply with a winch. Sheet sizes start there but go larger than necessary for the sheer comfort of handling them.
 
Re: Halyard and sheet sizes

Luckily your size helps make some decisions for you - in general thinner exotic (and expensive) lines are used to save weight and stretch on racing boats.

For your boat, sheets of around 12mm / half inch are comfortable to hand, whereas smaller becomes more difficult - my 31 footer has 1/2 headsail, but 10mm (3/8) for spinnaker and you really need gloves to handle the thinner line.

Halyards are less of an issue (re hands) but the same applies - you can get exotic line in probably 3mm that would do as halyards for you, but nigh impossible to use other than on a winch. Also exotics having little/no stretch transfer a lot of load which I'd rather my rig didn't see due to the somewhat elastic nature of my halyards (polyester, but parallel fibre so half way between the two).

My mast is 10.5 metres high, and has 10mm polyester line for headsail halyard, still old 1/2inch / 3/16 wire main halyard. and 10mm exotic for spinnaker. If you decide to replace yours and the sheets are 10 - 12mm and halyards 8-10mm then like for like is probably fine.

Be wary that changing from wire/rope spliced halyard to all rope doesn't cause sheave issues at masthead. I've stuck with my existing sheaves as they had already been changed (all bar main).
 
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