I need to replace my main halrd. The cable part is in good condition; the rope part is not. Also would like some tips for doing this exercise. Thank You in advance.
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main halyard
I would seriously consider changing to all line halyards and run them back to the cockpit, and be rid of the wire altogether. But if you want to keep the wire just measure the lenght of the line you have now, then order the replacment. Check the wire for meathooks you may find it also needs replacing. If you are going to keep the eyes on the wire then you can just tye a bowline and be finished if you going to add a eye splice, add at least a foot to the overall lenght. The orginal was 5/16", NE stayset would be a good line for the replacement. That said its really up to your on taste on what your going to like, there are several low (no) stretch lines that will work.
I would seriously consider changing to all line halyards and run them back to the cockpit, and be rid of the wire altogether. But if you want to keep the wire just measure the lenght of the line you have now, then order the replacment. Check the wire for meathooks you may find it also needs replacing. If you are going to keep the eyes on the wire then you can just tye a bowline and be finished if you going to add a eye splice, add at least a foot to the overall lenght. The orginal was 5/16", NE stayset would be a good line for the replacement. That said its really up to your on taste on what your going to like, there are several low (no) stretch lines that will work.
More Halyard Thoughts
Randy: Ken gave you good information. As he said, replacing the line on your main halyard could be as simple as buying the correct length of new line and tying it on to the eye where the old line was tied on. When I was where you are now, I replaced my jib halyard with an all rope halyard. The benefit of this is that we can clip our jib halyard shackle to the bow pulpit eye when we are getting the jib ready to pull up, or just after we take it down. Also, when we use our drifter, we can cleat the rope, but we had trouble cleating the wire which was too long. We did add a winch to the mast to counteract the stretch of the rope. This was actually a good thing and was long overdue anyway, but the rope does stretch more than the wire. I also used wider pulleys at the mast head to correspond to the rope, instead of the wire jib halyard. I also made a thinner plate to separate the main and jib pulleys because of the change to the jib pulleys. I didn't change the wire main halyard. I actually like the wire one because it doesn't stretch as much as a rope one would. Also, the wire leading down the front of the mast offers less wind resistance than a rope halyard would. You might think that this is crazy, but that's just the way that I think. I agree with Ken about the 5/16 Stayset. I actually bought a different Stayset line first, but it was too stiff and I had to return it. I couldn't bundle it up near the cleats on the mast. It was so stiff that all I could do was coil it into approx. 1 foot diameter coils. This didn't look right, so as I said, I returned it. That's about all I have for now, Aldo
Randy: Ken gave you good information. As he said, replacing the line on your main halyard could be as simple as buying the correct length of new line and tying it on to the eye where the old line was tied on. When I was where you are now, I replaced my jib halyard with an all rope halyard. The benefit of this is that we can clip our jib halyard shackle to the bow pulpit eye when we are getting the jib ready to pull up, or just after we take it down. Also, when we use our drifter, we can cleat the rope, but we had trouble cleating the wire which was too long. We did add a winch to the mast to counteract the stretch of the rope. This was actually a good thing and was long overdue anyway, but the rope does stretch more than the wire. I also used wider pulleys at the mast head to correspond to the rope, instead of the wire jib halyard. I also made a thinner plate to separate the main and jib pulleys because of the change to the jib pulleys. I didn't change the wire main halyard. I actually like the wire one because it doesn't stretch as much as a rope one would. Also, the wire leading down the front of the mast offers less wind resistance than a rope halyard would. You might think that this is crazy, but that's just the way that I think. I agree with Ken about the 5/16 Stayset. I actually bought a different Stayset line first, but it was too stiff and I had to return it. I couldn't bundle it up near the cleats on the mast. It was so stiff that all I could do was coil it into approx. 1 foot diameter coils. This didn't look right, so as I said, I returned it. That's about all I have for now, Aldo
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