I have a 1976 Columbia T-26. I just got the boat about 4 months ago and now need to replace at least the main halyard. It has a stainless steel line braided into the end that feeds through the mast pulley. I am not sure if I need to get a replacement just like the current one, they seem to be pretty expensive, or if I have any other options. Like reconfiguring the mast (or if that's possible). Is this a good feature? Thanks for any guidance.
Halyards
- Thread starter ncsailor634
- Start date
Not Necessary
First, I would recommend you contact the store on this site and let them advise you. However, what you will want is a high load - low stretch line that is intended for halyard use. It should be compatible with the wire halyard mast sheaves. However, checking is certainly the best thing to do. Make sure you have plenty of tail on the rope portion and that the end is secured and pull the wire portion down until you see rope. If there is no jam, you should be good to go with straight rope halyards.
What you want to do is to convert to a rope halyard which is superior in every way to the halyard you now have. What type of rope you decide to use is determined by your need, but a quick search can clear this up for you. You will probably need to change the sheave at your masthead, but you will, at least, need to inspect the sheave. If your mast is up, this will complicate things and perhaps ordering a wire to rope halyard will be what you will opt to do. Most yacht supply houses will have what you need. A cheap, easy fix is probably not in the cards. This is, after all, a boat.
You won't save any money by switching to all rope. So... I'd go ahead and replace with a wire to rope kit you can purchase just about anywhere. Shop around, though, you'll save money there, and you can use the old shackle.
To change it out, remove the shackle from the wire and tape a lightweight messenger line to the end. Pull on the rope end to carefully remove the old halyard, replacing it with the messenger.... now take the new halyard's wire end and secure it to the messenger... a small rolling hitch covered with masking tape will work... just don't jerk it when it goes through the masthead sheaves. Follow the directions that come with the halyard kit to fasten on the shackle.
http://www.defender.com/product3.jsp?path=-1|2078767|2363111&id=75388
http://www.defender.com/product3.jsp?path=-1|2078767|2363111&id=75388
Size wise, you'll either need a 1/8" wire/ 5/16 rope, or 1/8 wire/ 3/8 rope. Use the old halyard to determine length.... the 5/16 kit will be 30x30 wire/rope. The 3/8 will be 40x40. Trim the wire so the wire/rope splice does not jam in the masthead sheave.
To change it out, remove the shackle from the wire and tape a lightweight messenger line to the end. Pull on the rope end to carefully remove the old halyard, replacing it with the messenger.... now take the new halyard's wire end and secure it to the messenger... a small rolling hitch covered with masking tape will work... just don't jerk it when it goes through the masthead sheaves. Follow the directions that come with the halyard kit to fasten on the shackle.
http://www.defender.com/product3.jsp?path=-1|2078767|2363111&id=75388
http://www.defender.com/product3.jsp?path=-1|2078767|2363111&id=75388
Size wise, you'll either need a 1/8" wire/ 5/16 rope, or 1/8 wire/ 3/8 rope. Use the old halyard to determine length.... the 5/16 kit will be 30x30 wire/rope. The 3/8 will be 40x40. Trim the wire so the wire/rope splice does not jam in the masthead sheave.
I like what Rick D posted.
I remember the cable section as stabbing my hands on my original PO's wire/rope.
I also did not like wrapping on the winch as it had tendencies for slipping when in more spirited conditions before securing. I felt it was more work than rope. I did NOT like the sound of cable slapping on the mast either. (I went to internal halyards). Plus it also scratches the winch drum. Also, wire/rope has an extra splice that is a possible break point.
Higgs's sheave info is important also. I would suspect that your '76 has wire sheaves. My '80 had these, but after changing to all-rope, it was a bear to raise & lower. I needed to change the mast crane because of a crack & the replacement was for rope. Going bigger in rope size may or may not be the fix with your orig. sheaves. You could experiment with different sizes first, however that didn't work for me.
CR
I remember the cable section as stabbing my hands on my original PO's wire/rope.
I also did not like wrapping on the winch as it had tendencies for slipping when in more spirited conditions before securing. I felt it was more work than rope. I did NOT like the sound of cable slapping on the mast either. (I went to internal halyards). Plus it also scratches the winch drum. Also, wire/rope has an extra splice that is a possible break point.
Higgs's sheave info is important also. I would suspect that your '76 has wire sheaves. My '80 had these, but after changing to all-rope, it was a bear to raise & lower. I needed to change the mast crane because of a crack & the replacement was for rope. Going bigger in rope size may or may not be the fix with your orig. sheaves. You could experiment with different sizes first, however that didn't work for me.
CR
As I noted earlier, I agree with Captain Ron and Steve.
Whatever you do, do NOT buy Stay Set X - horrible hand reported by many, many skippers. Regular Stay Set is too stretchy. Buy NON NER line for your halyards.
Whatever you do, do NOT buy Stay Set X - horrible hand reported by many, many skippers. Regular Stay Set is too stretchy. Buy NON NER line for your halyards.
In 1976, wire was used as part of the halyard in order to avoid stretch. Modern synthetic line stretches LESS than wire, and is cheaper. Using an all-line halyard also avoids the need for a wire/line splice, which is REALLY expensive. If you're into racing, find a dyneema or spectra-type line. If you're just cruising, use pre-stretched (sta-set or similar) which will work fine.
ncsailor634...
When I acquired my Coronado 27, the rope/wire halyard was shot. Because the mast was down, I was able to remove the masthead sheaves and recontour them (they were the old phenolic material back in '72) by using a bolt and washers as a spindle and chucking it up in my drill press then using a rat-tail file to reshape the groove to better fit a 3/8" halyard.
I disagree with Stu in that I've never had a problem with Sta-Set X for halyards, but, to each his own. Maybe the problem is with newer production runs.
When I acquired my Coronado 27, the rope/wire halyard was shot. Because the mast was down, I was able to remove the masthead sheaves and recontour them (they were the old phenolic material back in '72) by using a bolt and washers as a spindle and chucking it up in my drill press then using a rat-tail file to reshape the groove to better fit a 3/8" halyard.
I disagree with Stu in that I've never had a problem with Sta-Set X for halyards, but, to each his own. Maybe the problem is with newer production runs.
If you go with all rope, DON'T use New England Ropes Sta-set, or other similar double braid polyester. The rope is quite stretchy, and you do not want stretch in halyards. Sta-set X is supposed to have a parallel core that stretches less than regular Sta-set. New England VPC has a blended core that is supposed to have less stretch than all polyester, still at reasonable cost. You can buy from the chandlery here, and I think they spec VPC for cruising halyards. If you wanna go crazy and spend some money, have a look at Vectran cored line such as Yale Crystalyne.
Brian
Brian
i made this point in a thread recently and for op ill do it again, the above comments are all valid if thats what you arrive at for personal feel as well, i have normal old west marine sta-set from new england ropes in 3/8 diameter for my halyards and im fine with it, however i tried two different lines for my mainsheet (6-1 block and tackle system) and i can tell you without any doubt that regatta braid kicks ass for anything that has a high purchase count block and tackle, sta-set and other similar lines are fine for everything else but if you have a high purchase count block and tackle especially one that is standard blocks and not a cascade or fiddle arrangement then regatta braid is the ticket hands down. just trust me the first pull and ease under load will let you know, stretch isnt as big of an issue in these applications because the load is so spread out that it doesnt stretch much if any and on a mainsheet it can kindof be nice to have a little.
That's a nice recommendation from Rufus. I know a sail dealer who is very happy with Regatta Braid on her 19' trailer sailer. She like Sta-set X for halyards.
My friend races Hobie 16s, and they have a crazy mainsheet block, maybe 8:1 purchase. He says all the racers like New England Salsa for a mainsheet, because the line is very comfortable on the hands, and runs through blocks very easily. Unfortunately, it's also somewhat ugly, if you like traditional line color schemes.
I decided to use it for my jib and main sheets. I like it very much. Although it's a single braid, it has not shown a tendency to flatten in cam cleats as other single braid lines do. It does get a bit fuzzy looking.
The only thing that remains to be seen is the UV longevity. Regatta Braid, being a polyester, should have very good UV resistance. The Salsa is a Dyneema/polyester blend, but is still supposed to have good UV resistance. I take all the extra line on mine, and coil it under the mainsail cover, but that still leaves the amount in the 3:1 purchase exposed. After a season, it does not look the worse for wear… I guess I'll see through the years…
Brian
My friend races Hobie 16s, and they have a crazy mainsheet block, maybe 8:1 purchase. He says all the racers like New England Salsa for a mainsheet, because the line is very comfortable on the hands, and runs through blocks very easily. Unfortunately, it's also somewhat ugly, if you like traditional line color schemes.
I decided to use it for my jib and main sheets. I like it very much. Although it's a single braid, it has not shown a tendency to flatten in cam cleats as other single braid lines do. It does get a bit fuzzy looking.
The only thing that remains to be seen is the UV longevity. Regatta Braid, being a polyester, should have very good UV resistance. The Salsa is a Dyneema/polyester blend, but is still supposed to have good UV resistance. I take all the extra line on mine, and coil it under the mainsail cover, but that still leaves the amount in the 3:1 purchase exposed. After a season, it does not look the worse for wear… I guess I'll see through the years…
Brian
Get a length of Staset, cut off your old rope halyard leaving about 18" attached to the wire, tie the new line on. Voila'! Others with bigger boats and deeper pockets might disagree but you have a 26 footer and mentioned that they seemed expensive. Also, folks mention stretch. Before you discount a line based on that, guesstimate the load on your halyard (probably not to exceed 200 lbs), the length of your mast and the assumed stretch. StaSet X has a line stretch of 1.3% and StaSet has 1.8% (I believe that is at 20% of tensile strength) . So, StaSet X will stretch 4 3/8' and StaSet will stretch 6 1/16" based on a 28' mast ans 2400lb tensile strength. That's about 5/8" difference at 200 lbs. Worried about that? I didn't think so.
Don
Don
Salsa is very nice line. It does go around blocks easily. It resists forming kinks which jam blocks (Called ______?). I had 50' of it as my dingy painter and it is in the sun basically all season without visible degradation. It is soft on the hands.
However when I sized it for my application, I didn't account for the stopper which would not hold it because I downsized the diameter due to its strength and low stretch.
I can't stand halyards which are stiff due to line that doesn't bend around a block easily. I like them to go up easily and drop when I release.
However when I sized it for my application, I didn't account for the stopper which would not hold it because I downsized the diameter due to its strength and low stretch.
I can't stand halyards which are stiff due to line that doesn't bend around a block easily. I like them to go up easily and drop when I release.
i race with a crew on a tripp 26 that spares no expense in rigging the boat, we have a super line for the main halyard and i cant say i can see a difference in lines on my boat that are standard bottom of the line west marine stuff as far as just being able to tell "wow the boat goes faster because of that money we spent on that crazy line there" now boat for boat im sure you could demonstrate a difference if you had identical vessels and changed all the lines on one to top end stuff but for a cruiser the sta-set works fine for halyards and control lines that are single or even double purchase, any more purchases than 2 and i would drop the sta-set and choose regatta braid, but yet again all the vectran and junk doesnt matter for a cruiser as much as keeping the lines fresh and healthy, the only time i would worry about stretch or material would be A. getting rid of that wire halyard since its ancient B. getting rid of hemp, dacron, or some other relic of a line material because the boat is old.