Main halyard chafing

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lrlloyd

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We have an HR36 from 1990 and this winter riggers changed our main halyard from wire & rope to just rope. This rope is now chafing at the top of the mast terribly and needs replacing. We have been up to the top of the mast and have filed any sharp edges but this has not helped. Has anyone had the same issue? Any recommendations? Thanks, Lauren
 
The obvious issue is that the mast will have a sheave designed for wire, and that needs to be changed for a rope sheave. The difference being that the wire sheave has a narrower groove than the one you need to accomodate rope.
 
I used my topping lift position/sheaves...as a main halyard... Maybe that is a solution. I retain the steel halyard as a topping lift / emergency halyard... It's on a hr352 so maybe not too different...
 
lrlloyd said:
We have an HR36 from 1990 and this winter riggers changed our main halyard from wire & rope to just rope. This rope is now chafing at the top of the mast terribly and needs replacing. We have been up to the top of the mast and have filed any sharp edges but this has not helped. Has anyone had the same issue? Any recommendations? Thanks, Lauren
Click to expand...
another " expert " rigger :(
 
We changed the halyards on an X99 in the late 80's from wire/rope to dyneema.

It might be slightly more complicated than currently mentioned.

Your new halyards are, maybe 10mm, and the old wire was, maybe 3mm. As mentioned the sheaves are different, the ones that were (are still?) there originally took a 3mm wire and the new ones need to take a 10mm rope and the sheaves will, very obviously, need to be changed. But the slot in the mast will be too small for a 10mm sheave and the slot will need to be widened to take the new sheave assembly (and that's not so easy if its at the top of the mast - you might need to take the mast out).

Currently you might be developing chafe both because the sheave (the roller?) is too narrow and because the slot itself is also too narrow.

Changing the sheave, even if that is possible will not solve the chafe caused by the slot being too narrow.

My suspicion is you need to widen the slot in the mast to take a much larger assembly.

When we changed our sheaves we had the mast out, widened the slot in the mast to accept the new assembly and use 1/4" pop rivets to secure (the rivets need a really decent gun (not the sort of thing easy to use up a mast).

Filing might make the problem worse - you need to file and polish - filing leave rough metal - perfect for chafing a halyard.

At this point you might want to think of taking up an earlier suggestion and reinstalling the wire/rope halyards.


I'm obviously no expert - maybe a dyneema halyard would work with the cover stripped off for the portion that works over the existing, (old) sheave. Dyneema has the strength of stainless - talk to a rigger (not the one you used :) ) and query this suggesting but you will need them to strip the cover off leaving 'bare' dyneema but having the cover on where you work the rope. You can do this yourself - and I'm sure there are lots of youtube vids showing how to do it. Dyneema is also very abrasion and UV resistant. Its not an unusual practice - we do it for furling lines and reefing lines (reduces weight aloft).

Jonathan
 
How are you stowing your halyard when not in use? I usually bring mine aft and shackle it to the end of the boom but on one occasion at the Folly I just left it shackled to the top of the stowed sail and frapped it off to the aft lower shroud to stop it banging on the mast. One night in contact with the aluminium web at the rear of the masthead was enough to destroy it.
 
The sheave might also have little clearance above. Unless you already went with Dyneema, it will let you drop one or two sizes, even without stripping the cover. But sounds like the sheave needs changing. If the axle is retained with a split ring, you're lucky.
 
Hi all, thanks for all the good advice. My invoice from the riggers says the sheave and separator were also replaced, but maybe I need to confirm this. Perhaps the best option is to go back to wire and rope... not sure why they changed it in the first place! Thanks again!
 
Re my earlier post. Just to clarify. If the mast already had a rope topping lift (Like mine had) there will already be a sheave at the top and base of the mast to use an entirely rope main halyard.

If the riggers have put in a new sheave (to suit the rope halyard), as per their invoice, it would seem the option to return to a wire halyard no longer exists, unless they put in a sheave to suit wire and then fitted a rope halyard, which may be your problem.

It does seem like you need to have words with the rigger...
 
pandos said:
Re my earlier post. Just to clarify. If the mast already had a rope topping lift (Like mine had) there will already be a sheave at the top and base of the mast to use an entirely rope main halyard.

If the riggers have put in a new sheave (to suit the rope halyard), as per their invoice, it would seem the option to return to a wire halyard no longer exists, unless they put in a sheave to suit wire and then fitted a rope halyard, which may be your problem.

It does seem like you need to have words with the rigger...
Click to expand...
Or go up the mast and have a look to see what its chafing on, but use a different halyard to go up on.
 
If the chaff is only in one place then that certainly reduces the reason for the chaff and may well indicate the cause
 
I had this exact same problem though I have always had rope halyards/topping lifts etc. the solution was extremely simple once the cause was seen. Instead of dropping straight down the mast to the sail (on the outside) the mast), the halyard at the point of exit from the sheaves was crossed over the topping lift. When the sail was raised and halyard tensioned it caused chafing in one spot.. maybe you have the same issue ? Good luck ....
 
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