Selden Halyard knot.

Q

Quandary

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My current boat came with a Selden rigging package, all the halyards, traveller control lines etc. were terminated with this knot secured to shackles, cars etc. It is elegant and secure enough, even in Dyneema, to get my weight to the top of the mast on the main halyard. What puzzles me is how I managed to avoid encountering it until four years ago, it is so simple it can not be a recent invention, though it is the only knot that Selden illustrate in their rigging handbook, as if they had invented it.
Can someone tell me its origins and what its real name is?
 
Apologies; on the way shortly. I should have had the foresight to take a photo or download the illustration and post it with my question.
 
thanks VicS, I ferreted around the Selden website, but their Search box is not working on their pdf.



I am now confused about the nomenclature of this knot. If you look at other descriptions of a halyard knot / bend / hitch, they all give different methods of tying a line round a spar, or to a shackle. And generally they don't result in the Selden-type bend. :confused:


It's almost like a half-blood knot used to attach a fishing hook to a line. Almost...


Any suggestions as to the proper name for this bend please, anyone ?


I am sure mountaineers would use something different, such as a double figure of eight ?
 
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Can anyone who has used it tell me whether it is easy to untie after it has had a load on it? It looks to me as though it might jam quite easily.
 
I have never found any problem getting it undone, not significantly harder than a bowline, I take all my ropes and control lines off every winter. On the heavier loaded halyards, particularly the main which I use ascend the mast, I have taken the probably unnecessary precaution of binding the tail to the standing part. It is more difficult to get it done firm and tight on dyneema which has been hardened with use, awful lot easier on softer ropes like the mainsheet end.
 
Quandary said:
I have never found any problem getting it undone, not significantly harder than a bowline, I take all my ropes and control lines off every winter. On the heavier loaded halyards, particularly the main which I use ascend the mast, I have taken the probably unnecessary precaution of binding the tail to the standing part. It is more difficult to get it done firm and tight on dyneema which has been hardened with use, awful lot easier on softer ropes like the mainsheet end.
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Bit of a drift but how do you find Dyneema in use. Clutches and winches for exam[ple.

My boat has wire halyards spliced into polyester, but they are coming due for replacement and I fancy using a smaller dynema - smaller that is than the rope tail or the existing halyards. But I can imagine them being much less pleasant to handle.
 
snowleopard said:
Can anyone who has used it tell me whether it is easy to untie after it has had a load on it? It looks to me as though it might jam quite easily.
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It really can jam, have cut off knot before now, not a bad idea anyway as long as you have a few feet spare line as it shifts the sheave/clutch bearing points a few inches.
 
Bosun Higgs said:
Bit of a drift but how do you find Dyneema in use. Clutches and winches for exam[ple.

My boat has wire halyards spliced into polyester, but they are coming due for replacement and I fancy using a smaller dynema - smaller that is than the rope tail or the existing halyards. But I can imagine them being much less pleasant to handle.
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The 12mm. main halyard can slip in our Spinlock clutches and they are not worn and the correct size, it probably needs an extra turn on the winch too. The genny halyard which is like yours with a polyester braid tail is much softer to handle and does not slip. Dyneema does not slip on the backstay tackle but that has a toothed jammer rather than a clutch. It is not as pleasant to handle when tailing but when sweating up a halyard at the mast you do not need to wear gloves, as you need to if your wire comes down near the mast foot. I could use thinner dyneema for halyards but the clutches would not hold it, the thinner stuff is used on my boat for towing the genny cars but not for the mainsheet traveller which is being handled all the time in my soft hands so is nice soft polyester and replaced every couple of years. The dyneema coat whatever it is made from, stands up to abrasion better than polyester, we have not stripped the coat on any of our lines except the last few inches where they are spilced.
Try the feel of it on the reel in the shop before deciding how thin to go rather than using the strength tables.
 
semisimple,

if you mean me, the kit isn't ancient just somehow lost pdf ability, rather like me !

The knot looks simple enough, but can't see the advantage over the trusty fishermans' bend, apart from maybe one turn taking less space.
 
Seajet said:
The knot looks simple enough, but can't see the advantage over the trusty fishermans' bend, apart from maybe one turn taking less space.
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It depends on the size of the eye in the sail. With a fisherman's bend you need to put 2 turns through the eye.
 
I have known about Ashley's book of knots for years but only came across a copy recently. It's a fascinating read but I doubt anyone would ever use more than 1% of the knots and variations he lists.
 
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