All rope halyard vs. Wire-to-rope halyard

[Trey]

I needed to replace my main halyard, and opted for a Sta-Set-X all rope halyard. With the mast down, I got a good look at the sheaves for the main & jib halyard. The "groove" around the sheave looks to be narrow as if intended for a wire to sit in.

1. Am I going to significantly shorten the life of an all-rope halyard running it in this narrow groove?

2. Has anybody done this with positive or negative results?

3. If yes to #1 and/or had negative results on #2, would it be easier (read less expensive) to replace the sheaves at the top o' the mast or to replace with a rope-to-wire halyard?

Your input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[NYCSAILOR]

I also have looked at this and there is no way the OEM sheeves were meant to handle rope....so...I need the specs of the OEM rope/wire halyard so Ihave the right lenght wire/rope combo so as not to have rope foul in the masthead..

[NYCSAILOR]

hmmmm... the manual as showm onthe other site states teh following:

IN THE RIGGING BOX:
2 halyard assemblies 343/28' 10" not sure what this means

but then it also has ... SMALL PARTS BAG #2

2 halyard rope tails / 29' 6"

So it is odd since the mast is 29' 6" so the halyard total should be about 60' I can't imagine that they expected teh customer inthe field to splice a wire halyard 343/28' 10" to the halyard rope tail 29' 6" ?????? But in the same manual... under fig 7 intructions step # 6 you find " tie or splice rope halyards tails to thimble ends of wire halyards and your C-26 mast is ready to place on the boat"

I am assuming that 343 is some kind of wire spec... but just eye balling it does look like 3/8 rope and it is likely 60' long overall.... don't know how long the wire portion would be...

FWIW:

went to this site... http://mauriprosailing.com/customproduc ... xwodpnjtDg

and they spec for the chrysler 26 a 5/16 all rope halyard 67' long


as an intersting aside...I found it intersting that the manual actual shows the owner how to tie a bowline to attach the genoa sheets...

[Banshi]

Man, poor trey did not get a hit until 3 years later? I bet he's taken care of that halyard already

If you go to rope you will have to replace the sheaves and likely the head to accommodate them, at least on the 22 there is no extra room for a wider sheave.

[NYCSAILOR]

funny,,,wonder if trey still ahs the boat...


you are right the sheeves at the mast head are purpose made for wire, shallow and narrow.

looks like wire-to-rope halyards for me!


http://www.usrigging.com/halyard.html

[Banshi]

You can get a new head if you really wanting to change, but if the halyard gets away it won't stop until it comes completely out and is laying on the deck if you don't put some sort of stop on it.

[NYCSAILOR]

do you mean a all rope halyard will run right through the mast head w/o stop and a wire to rope ( I will most likely stay with the OEM set-up) won't? I guess any "stop" should just be a disc of some kind right above the shackle,,,

[EmergencyExit]

Yep, near as I can tell, they wanted you to do that splice ! EE's simply is an extremely tight and small bowline there. The reason the length isn't the full 60' is because with the main down the rope halyard just touches the deck, and the shackle end of the wire just makes it down to the mainsail head, thus the difference of the few feet. I added a few feet to the rope tails.

Also on EE when the main is all the way down the splice between rope and wire is right at the sheaves, so the length of wire goes from the main head to just thru the sheaves. That will stop the rope half from spilling thru the sheave, BUT if you let the shackle hang loose, the weight of the rope side will pull that shackle to the mast head in a heartbeat !

[NYCSAILOR]

having new wire to rope halyards made-up...gonna' be a bit pricey...anyone know teh diameter size fothe wire...never got to measure it last weekend and no rigger has any idea what "343" might mean ans they say it is not a wire spec they recognize...

what i bought in the aftermarket spec..

1/8" - 7X19 stainless steel wire x 30'
+ 5/16" Dacron Double Braid x 30'

85 with shipping from defender...with eye splice

[Guillaume C.]

Have you compared the price of this wire/rope combination to all-rope spectra? (or dyneema,vectran,etc) these new fiber are pretty stiff with about 2% elongation, and need smaller diameter than comparable polyester(dacron) line

[Windward]

For main and genoa halyards, Windward uses 1/8 wire with a double-swaged thimble on either end and a line tail tied to that. 5/16" was original spec for the line portion, and I stayed with that (easy to grab) but went to StaSet-X instead of StaSet. Could go to a higher tech line and drop that to 1/4", but when the sails raised the tail's all at the deck and I didn't think the extra $ was justified in that application.

Thought about going to line, but the sheaves aren't designed for it and looked as though they'd chew it up. Unusual size on the older mastheads, which would be expen$ive to replace. Besides, best case would be saving a negligible amount of weight and getting more uv degradation in return.

I finally added a small winch for the main, but for a while I used a 2:1 mainsheet. I put a Harken Carbo block on the eye, used a double length line with one end on a eystrap on the mast, through the block and back down to the cleat. Used to twist a bit, and there was lots of tail, but provided more than enough "oomph" to get the main tensioned even after reefing with the wind up.

Genoa's on a furler, but I like to be able to tweak luff tension. I set minimum tension and leave it cleated, then use an old boom vang tackle that I clip to the wire thimble to dynamically adjust tension under sail. The 4:1 is just barely enough, but let's me adjust draft as needed to match conditions.