Wire vs Rope Halyard

J

jj1000

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I need to replace the spinnaker halyard on my S&S36. I inherited a wire halyard with a rope tail that looks like a mooring line. It just squeezes through the sheaves and clutch but turns into a primadonna when the splice is required to pass through the mast window. I haven't shaken out the spinnaker yet but this will be entertaining for the fleet behind me as we round the downwind mark ("don't worry skip, there's no one back there...").

Anyway I read in BPO or YM a couple of months back that someone replaced all their halyards with rope which is much better because zzzzzzz.... Now that I'm more interested I can't find the article.

My local chandler (in Australia) stocks rope called Spektra Speed which sounds really cool. Apart from the street cred "oh yeah, we've got Spekra Speed really give us the edge don't ya know", does anyone have any advice or experience wire rope halyards vs wire?

Cheers John
 
In general, let alone for a spinnaker, I dislike wire/rope halyards because you cannot tell from the splice what's happening inside it, and wire can go very suddenly with little warning. I have replaced all such halyards that were on Roaring Girl when we bought her with all rope.

As to the type of rope - it depends on how much you're prepared to pay for lightness and ease of handling, and whether you colour code them. The important thing is that its breaking strain is greater than the shockloads from your spinnaker, but if your sheaves are small you may need to pay the extra costs of modern ropes for 10mm diameter with sufficient strength. Your chandler should advise!

HTH
 
There are a couple of reasons why you might want to stick to wire.

First the sheaves may be designed for wire (angled rather than rounded.)

Second if you don't have a proper swivelling crane and are just going to fly the spinnaker from a masthead sheave you may find it chafes readily. Mine does!

I'm not sure how important the sheave issue is - probably depends on how close you are to the maximum size rating for it. Others may be able to advise.

If you decide for these reasons to stick to wire you could always use less of it - just the last metre or two would probably be fine.

Spectra and similar high performance ropes will allow you to use a smaller size for a given load, so if you have a problem with feeding it through this might make it easier. Your chandler can give you the specs on the rope he's selling. On the other hand it will almost certainly cost more. Also ropes, like most of us, seem to get fatter with age, so you may find a new halyard of the same nominal size as your current one feeds more freely.
 
I believe that it is recommended that if you are going to replace a wire halyard with a rope one then you replace the sheaves - one of the reasons being that wire tends to roughen the sheaves and that in turn causes excessive wear on rope.
 
For spinnacker halyard almost any rope will be fine. You simply pull the spin to the top you don't tensiona spin halyard like you do a jib or main.
the only decision you need to make is what size rope. Thin will run really easily but is harder to handle while thicker may give excessive friction but is easy to handle.

I have a spectra rope for jib and wire /rope for main. I am often dissapointed that the jib needs to be retensioned after some minutes of sailing bvecause the spectra seems to have stretched. it is however cheaper and simpler than rope/wire spliced.

Ah speaking of spins. Yesterday while arriving at the bottom mark neck and neck with the arch rival. We had to get jib up, pull spin down, stow the pole, gybe the boat and harden up for the beat away.
I looked at the other guy and knew that my crew could beat his and we left the pull down to the last minute yes he chickened out and went conservative he pulled down just a little early. Enough for us to grab an overlap. Ah the sheer joy of 4 crew working perfectly to be able to power away on the wind. Not just having the better crew but knowing you have the better crew.
These cruising guys never know the joy of an intricate manouvre done fast and well. And no shouting. olewill
 
Just don't EVER put aramid halyards on your kite. Unless you have a sponsor who likes to buy you new clobber, aramid spi halyards don't stretch, and headless 'chutes and busted halyards seem to be bedfellows when Spectra comes to town! For main and genny hal's, I'd say Spectra is the way forward, but watch for the UV degradation.
 
i'd second that...

For those that haven't flown a spinnaker in a breeze, the shock loads can be truly enormous....

I was always told to NOT use high tech rope for the kite halyard, as a little give is a good thing to absorb the shock loads, and as is said above, the kite halyard isn't cranked in to within an inch of its life, so doesn't need a low stretch expensive rope.
 
She canni tak it capt'n she's breakin up! OK Scotty belay SpectraSpeed and take her back to warp speed....

I wasn't sure what aramid was so I looked it up "Aramid fibers are a class of heat-resistant and strong synthetic fibers. They are used in aerospace and military applications, for ballistic rated body armor fabric, and as an asbestos substitute." Coooool. I definitely need asbestos substitute halyards here in the tropics.

But maybe not for the spin halyard. Looks like bungee cord with a crane for the spin, aerospace ballistic asbestos substitute for the main and gen.

Cheers and thanks again

John
 
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