Rope to wire halyards

[briankerry]

As part of the refit of my '75 racer cruiser I will have to replace the rope to wire halyards. Should I stick to this format or would I be better advised to use one of the new generation ropes throughout, like dyneema? If I take the latter option, what are the consequences in terms of my masthead sheaves?

 

[ccscott49]

Dyneema, is really for the serious racing fraternity and is thin and difficult to handle, when I re-rigged my own boat, she had wire/rope, I went for all rope, pre-stretched polyester, seems fine, and easy to handle. I simply replaced the masthead sheaves with rope ones, they are available from rigging supply people.

 

[Guest]

Dyneema, spectra, technora, call it what you will. Excellent stuff. much easier to handle than the wire/rope combination and less stretch to boot. The problem with ordinary pre-stretch polyester is it's like knicker elastic when it comes to halyards, you'll be forever having to adjust the tension.

The cost is outweighed by its longevity and the charges for a wire/rope splice. Don't have the shackles spliced in, just use blood knots and any chafe can be cut out by simply re-tieing the knot. If you are using stoppers/clutches, the new halyard might need to be sheathed, in order to build the diameter up so the clutch can grip, a bit like a bell rope. Simple and easy to do. Just stitch on a cover from an old rope.

I would reccomend that the sheeves are replaced, there not particularly expensive. The sheeve boxes may need some work where the old wire has chewed them up.

Hope this helps

Mike_W

 

[briankerry]

Fanatastic, lots of usefull thoughts and all in a few minutes, many thanks. What would we do without the PBO forum?

 

[charles_reed]

Having used Dynema/Spectra for the last 9 years I've gradually replaced all my halyards with it.
The spi halyard, the first to be replaced, is as good as new

I can confirm that it's ideally suited for the cruiser, being slightly less expensive than a rope/wire halyard, less noisy and far lighter.

During the first 2/3 seasons it is slightly more likely to tangle than plain polyester but soon settles down - there is also slightly more stretch than on wire.

I'd strongly recommend changing.