Main Halyard

[Czech Mate]

It appears that it is time to replace a very weathered main halyard on our 1975 E32-2. Last fall I took some measurements and this is what I found. I don't know whether this is original or not and I might not be using the correct terminology, but here goes. What is now on the boat as near as I can tell is a 7/16" diameter rope halyard combined with a 3/16" diameter wire halyard with 2 thimbles. There is a spliced eye on the rope halyard that captures a thimble on one end of the wire and the other end of the wire has a thimble that captures the shackle that attaches to the head of the mainsail. Do these dimensions sound correct?

I talked to the guy that has done rigging for me in the past and asked him what he would be most comfortable with if he had to go up the mast again, which he has done in the past, and his recommendation was a rope to wire halyard. Any thoughts? Attached are some photos of what I have now, Your opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Bill
Czech Mate
Sturgeon Bay, WI

 

[DanielW]

If you are persuaded to ditch the wire then replace the block at the masthead as it will have a groove worn into it from the wire being pulled though over x years. This will happily shred your lovely new spectra halyard in a matter of days

 

[Loren Beach]

For Halyards, Change Is Good

One almost never sees a combination wire-and-rope-tail halyard assembly without a splice, unless it's a small boat like our first 20 footer.
My guess about how your boat was rigged is that the first swaged eye with the halyard shackle was done on the ground with a Nicopress tool, then the cut-off end was fed over the sheave and back to the deck where the other end had an eye pressed into it.

Unless you are selling the boat immediately and just want to cosmetically spruce it up a bit, do the change to a one-piece low stretch line. Also visually check the condition of the masthead sheave for nicks and gouges. After all these decades it is time to refurb/replace the axles and sheaves up there if not done already.

Note that no matter what you replace the old one with, you will have to cut off one of the old pressed eyes and securely secure the end of the new line to it and pull this up 'n' over that sheave.

I went through this on our present boat, over ten years ago, when changing over completely to T-900 halyards. We found meat hooks in the old wire, plus they had damaged the original aluminum sheaves. Sheaves were removed and turned down slightly on a lathe.

Regards,
Loren

ps: I wonder if someone really big was once winched up in a bosun's chair? That shackle pin looks to be distorted!

 

[u079721]

The norm today is to suggest some type of all rope halyard, but to do that safely you probably need to change out the sheave at the masthead. When I had to change mine I was lazy and just went with a new wire-rope halyard with a splice. If you decide to go this route you don't even need someone to go aloft to change out the halyard. Just cut the thimble off of one end of the existing halyard and run a messenger line (or two to be safe). Then use one of the messenger lines to run the new halyard up to the masthead and down to the base of the mast.

Good luck!

 

[rwthomas1]

Lots of people will tell you that all-line halyards are the only way to go. I'm not one of them. Unless you race, I see little reason to swap, especially if the halyards are in good shape. My boat came with two new wire/line halyards installed. Six seasons later they are still in good shape. Why change? The negative to the setup you have is the thimble at both ends, so the halyard is difficult to remove. A spliced wire/line halyard can be easily be removed and installed like an all-line setup. Unless you have meathooks, the wire is failing, etc. Why change it? Even if it needs changing you could always go to a spliced wire/line setup, pull it in and leave the sheaves alone. RT

 

[tenders]

I'm with Rob. A spliced wire-rope halyard is simple, durable, inexpensive, effective, and compatible with all the rest of the running rigging hardware. Also, easy to replace. On what basis would you justify messing with the system? Not weight, I hope. The incremental weight of wire/traditional rope vs. fancy all-rope on a 35-year old boat is less than negligible.

 

[mherrcat]

This interests me as I have been considering all rope/line halyards. My rope/wire jib halyard definitely needs replacement as a section of the rope is clearly detertiorated; fortunately with a furler the halyard is not frequently lowered. The rope/wire main halyard is old but functional; have not noticed any meat hooks. However, the rope/line on both halyards seems to have accumulated salt and/or dirt over the years and the diameter is larger than what it was when new, putting it a bit over the limit of the rope clutches it runs through, so the clutches on the halyards are harder to close than those on the main or reefing lines. The main sheet and reefing lines I can remove and run through a washing machine to clean, but what can I do with the halyards, short of replacing them?

 

[u079721]

This interests me as I have been considering all rope/line halyards. My rope/wire jib halyard definitely needs replacement as a section of the rope is clearly detertiorated; fortunately with a furler the halyard is not frequently lowered. The rope/wire main halyard is old but functional; have not noticed any meat hooks. However, the rope/line on both halyards seems to have accumulated salt and/or dirt over the years and the diameter is larger than what it was when new, putting it a bit over the limit of the rope clutches they run through, so the clutches on the halyards are harder to close than those on the main or reefing lines. The main sheet and reefing lines I can remove and run through a washing machine to clean, but what can I do with the halyards, short of replacing them?

If your halyard has a thimble at both ends of the wire, then it does make things more difficult. In that case all you could do would be to soak the entire rope section in a bucket on deck in warm water and mild detergent to remove the salt and grime. Or you could remove one thimble, which would allow you to then wash the rope portion by itself. On the other hand if you already have a rope-wire splice, then just remove the halyard using a messenger line and then wash the entire halyard. Lots of folks who store with their masts up remove all the halyards every year this way to keep them clean and reduce sun damage.

 

[mherrcat]

Interesting; I have rope-to-wire splices so I wonder if the rope would fit through the openings in the masthead cranes. Actually I think there is only a crane on the aft side of the masthead as my rig is fractional. Still, considering they have expanded, I wonder if the rope portions would fit.

 

[Czech Mate]

The reason that I am replacing the main halyard is that the rope portion of halyard is starting to deteriorate pretty seriously in a couple of spots. The wire portion of the halyard seems to be fine. I probably could cut one thimble off and and just replace the rope portion and swage on a new thimble. However, it makes sense to me to replace both the wire and rope due to their age.

I have no intention of going to the trouble of changing over to an all rope halyard. Guess the easy way out is more attractive at this point. My question was more in the direction of which is a better system, a two-piece system where the wire has two thimbles and the rope has an eye connecting to one of the thimbles or, as my rigger has suggested, a one-piece spliced wire to rope halyard. Sounds like the consensus is spliced wire to rope halyard if I'm reading you guys right.

Bill
Czech Mate

 

[Czech Mate]

Loren:

I think the shackle pin is okay and that it looks distorted due to the angle that the picture was taken at, but I will certainly take a closer look at it this weekend. Thanks for the advice.

Bill

 

[exoduse35]

The wire to rope splice is far superior to the thimble. You can see on yours that it is fraying at the thimble and a new one will too. With the splice there is no mechanical point loading of any one area of the line. It is the same principle as the dock lines always breaking at a chafe point and not in the middle of the line. Edd

 

[Shelman]

I just replaced the jib halyard on my 1985 E 26 with an all synthetic line.. It was easy as I already had the mast down. I pulled the shiv box and used a round file to re-shape the aluminum shiv (there are two in the box and one is an extra so no worries if i didn't like it) then finished up with some sand paper and ran the new line. works great and no chafing yet.

 

[Vagabond39]

RE: Halyards

As Salman stted:
I just replaced the jib halyard on my 1985 E 26 with an all synthetic line.. It was easy as I already had the mast down.
The Axils should also be inspected / polished and lubed.
Who knows when that was last done!

 

[lindaloo]

Something else to consider .....

One downside to the wire/rope halyard is if you have to use it to lift you up the mast in the bosun's chair. The nicopress swage and snap-shackle are right in front of your face, attached to the chair's D-rings. You are depending on them completely.
It is nice to have an all rope halyard for going up the mast. And tie a bowline to the chair even if there is an eye-spliced shackle.
My main and jib halyards are wire/rope but the spinnaker halyard is all rope. Guess which one I prefer for going up the mast.
R

 

[rwthomas1]

One downside to the wire/rope halyard is if you have to use it to lift you up the mast in the bosun's chair. The nicopress swage and snap-shackle are right in front of your face, attached to the chair's D-rings. You are depending on them completely.
It is nice to have an all rope halyard for going up the mast. And tie a bowline to the chair even if there is an eye-spliced shackle.
My main and jib halyards are wire/rope but the spinnaker halyard is all rope. Guess which one I prefer for going up the mast.
R

I would agree entirely. Faced with only two halyards, main and jib, having them wire/rope and relying on a nicopress fitting, I would opt to change at least one over to all line just to be able to ascend the mast. That said, I have two all line wing/spinnaker halyards available so this is a non-issue for me. RT