Frayed Main Halyard

[Julian Elliott]

Somewhere in the archives, I remember this item mentioned, but cannot find it.  So here goes.

My current main halyard has become frayed at the Spinlock clutch, and I am replacing it (the halyard).   I remember someone with a similar situation who smoothed the "bite" of the clutch teeth to reduce fraying.

Has anyone done this successfully?  Don't want to get involved in something that is not effective, or worse, creates slippage.

I have a furling main, and I suspect the PO rarely if ever lowered/loosened the halyard.

Julian

[Stu Jackson]

Hi, Julian, nice to see you here.  What clutch(es) do you have?  Garhauer, other?  What type of line for your halyard(s)?  Stay Set, Stay Set X, Samson...?  One answer is to redo the knot or splice at the head of the halyard so as to move the points of contact.

[tonywright]

Also check to make sure that it is really as frayed as you think. The outer sheath on the factory line is loosely woven, and you may just have some of the inner core pulled through. This is simple to rectify, and you can avoid the expense of a new halyard. Have a ropemaker or sailmaker take a look at it.

Tony

[Ron Hill]

Julian : To answer your question - I don't recall anyone successfully "filing" down those clutch teeth and still have a "no slip clutch" that still didn't chew into the outer jacket of the line.

You can do as Stu suggests, or end for end the line, but you are just moving the wear spot. 
Some of us have just "bit the bullet" and purchased rope clutches that "clamp" the line by compression and do NOT have teeth.   A thought

[Julian Elliott]

The fraying is on the outside braid; the inner core is intact.  Probably more a visual issue than a breaking strength issue, but don't want to find out.  I  could shorten the halyard, but it just moves the damage forward.

Have bought some nice flexible Sampson XLS; will pull up this weekend.  I'll forgo dealing with the clutch.

J