HALYARDS

[BOB A]

I AM CURRENTLY REPLACING MY MAIN AND JIB HALYARDS WOULD LIKE YOUR IDEAS ON 3/8 OR 7/16

[Tom P, IMPULSE #233, '86]

Bob,

I just replaced my halyards with Yale Low Stretch Cord (about $1.75/ft)...Ordered it from my sailmaker and they recommended 5/16" (North Sails)...BTW, North beat the heck out of the equivalent line at West Marine...I thought that 5/16" would be too small, but they showed me how the newer technology line is a lot stronger and stretches less than the older lines...

I will disagree with Ron on the splicing issue...I've been told by many friends, and saw first hand that most high tech, low stretch line will not hold a knot very well...The line is too stiff, and slippery...Therefore, I had my halyards spliced...You can still swap them end ofr end; just have to spend another $20 on a splice when you want to swap them...

Unless you are racing, I'd probably go with a decent 3/8" line; after all, that's what the factory installed, right?  If you want to race/tweek alot, then go with 5/16" low stretch...If your clutches won't grab the high tech 5/16" line, a rigger can build up the line at the clutch to 3/8" for about $20-$30 per line...

Instead of building up my halyards, I spent the money to replace the original jaw type rope clutches with the newer Lewmar domino style clutches; which do not crush the line like the older Lewmars did (original equip on the '86 C34)...I'm pretty sure the clutch is where most of my wear occured...

Hope this helps,
Tom

[Stu Jackson]

Halyard Replacement

I replaced my main halyard a while ago with 3/8 New England Stay Set.

In hindsight, I should have gone to 7/16 Stay Set X.

Ron's right about the larger line being easier to handle.  Our mainsheet is 7/16, and just that little difference would help a lot in getting a handle on the halyard to raise the mainsail.

I also should have bought the Stay Set X which stretches less.  With our cunningham it's not that much of a difference even if the main halyard does stretch a bit, as far as sail shaping is concerned.

New England Rope's Stay Set and Stay Set X are not the stiff "ultra techie" lines, but are soft and comfortable lines, and atke and hold knots well.  The X is less stretch.

[dave davis]

I have replaced Halyards and sheets with 3/8 No Stretch Yale Christaline, very dear. My halyards were wire/rope splice but were getting old and started to draw blood. I wanted no stretch instead of low stretch. But I must tell you that this stuff is so stiff that the old Garhauer stoppers are very marginal and the crew will complain that even the Self Tailing whinchs are not as effective as the crew likes. You have to make one more turn after it is locked in.
If you are not a racer, stick with the bigger low strech bigger diam and easier to handle.
Good sailing handling, Dave

[jrupinsk]

In 2001 I replaced the 3/8" with 7/16". I was never satisfied with the 7/16" as the mainsail would not come down easily.  I just bought a new 3/8" Stay-Set X from Rigging Loft with a key pin shackle. Cost was $109.18 with the shackle.  The 7/16" had a screw pin shackle which was sometimes tough to unscrew.  So it's back to basics for me

Jan & Liz Rupinski
s/v La Vie Dansante
r/v Southwind 35S "Moose"
C34mkII #1311
Cape May, NJ

[Bill Sedgwick]

Bob,
I replaced my main and one jib halyard in the last 12 months because of new sails and streach in both old halyards. I first bought Stayset-X for the main. It is stiff and the cover seems to be rapidly getting fuzzy but there is no streach now on the main. I replaced the jib halyard with XLS Extra. It is more flexible and seems to have a much better cover. Again, there is no apparent streach. I'll use the XLS Extra in the future although it cost a little more than the Stayset-X. These are both on the low end of the cost scale for low streach (non-poly core) materials.

[rirvine]

For what it is worth, here is my experience.   Last season, I replaced my main halyard with 7/16" Sta-Set X+ but the cruising crew found it very difficult/impossible to deal with.  Now it is taking up space in my garage and has been replaced with 3/8" T-900 (both main and jib) which everybody is happy with â€" low stretch for those who believe that is important and easier to deal with for those who want an easier life.   The only down side is that it is expensive but if you search around the Web you can sometimes find it on sale.

[Terry]

My jib halyard has some chafing at the bowline knot - appears to be rubbing on something at the top of the mast.  The suggestion was to get rid of the bowline knot and have a shackle spliced in.  The knot has held fine for many years but being too big it chafes on something.  Anybody else experience this??

[captran]

There is an easy, inexpensive alternative to splicing the shackle.  I learned it from a guy just finishing a 10 year Caribbean cruise.  He suggested a needle and dacron thread to wrap and sew the end left over from the bowline made for the shackle.  I did this and it seems to work well.  He's said he's had one too many bowlines let loose at just the wrong time.

[dave davis]

Every one seems to have a different take on how to attach a sheet to a clew or a halyard. Ron's black ties is a new one for me. Here's another option. On my new spinnaker halyard, I used a bowline with the loose end whipped in over black tape.
 On my new 155% Genoa I am using a no knot/no splice attachment. I don't know the name of it, but the way to attach it is as follows. Take the center of your 100 foot line, run the center thru the clew with about two inchs sticking out as a loop. Now run both bitter ends thru the loop all the way until it's very tight. That's it. I marked the line at the loop to make sure nothing slips. I did this so I could use 3/8 no stretch sheets and not have the extra weight of two big bowlines. The only time I use the 155% is in very light winds when the weight is important. The disadvantage is you can not release the lazy sheet and you now have a dedicated sheet per sail. Crazy ha! But thats what racing is all about. The little things.