Halyard Wire

[sunwindsea]

As I work to refit my 1983 Catalina 30, the next thing I want to do is change out the original wire halyards to all rope starting with the main halyard. I am wondering what is the best way to feed the new line through the sheave at the top of the mast? Will the eye at the end of the wire pass over the sheave OK with the new halyard attached? Do I need to cut off the eye and attach the rope to the wire? Or is it necessary to go aloft?

Any advice would be welcome!

 

[caguy]

What size rope are you using? I tried 5/16 kevlar but it filled the winch too quickly. 1/4 '' should work ok. If you don't have a thimble in your eye you might pull it through. You could cut the eye off from the cable and pull the unspliced end through. Or pull a messenger +ire or rope through first.

 

[AADIVER]

I bought my "new" 1983 C-30 last month and one of the first things I did was replace the main wire and line halyard with all line, and enough to raise and lower from the cockpit. But I had a local rigger do it. I also added lazy jacks.

 

[joefusa]

you might want to check the sheaves before you make the change. the groove in the original sheaves is sized for wire. changing to rope may require changing to sheaves with a larger groove otherwise the rope would tend to jam and not fun freely. that's what i did when i made the switch.

 

[sunwindsea]

Thanks, guys. I think I will try 1/4 " line. I actually just had the standing rigging changed in Oct. and new sheaves put on (the old ones were frozen up from not being used), and the rigger told me it was ready for the rope lines. I just ran out of money and couldn't finish all the jobs needed at that time. I will use a messenger to play it safe.

 

[Twice Around]

i shifted to a 7/16" main halyard & 3/8" halyards on the jib & spin. I went to the Garhauer sheaves and drilled holes in the mast crane and moved into internal halyards for the main & jib..If you have external halyards, I think you can live with the stock small diameter sheaves...if you go internal and need to turn the halyard 180 degrees on one sheave I do not think the small stock sheaves can turn the halyard safely.

Joe's comments are good ones..my sheaves certainly expected wire...I also had my mast down for this endeavor.

If you go with higher tech line you can go smaller diameter..I am running XLS poly/poly. However, if I had the stock small aluminum sheaves with wire halyards, I'd make sure I had ZERO burrs on my sheaves if I went to a high tech small diameter line.

 

[Team118]

I redid the jib halyard this summer. My wife went up on the main halyard and did it up top. She said it was a bit of a pain, she finally taped the new jib halyard to the old wire halyard to fish it through.

I used 7/16" because once the jib is up I don't worry about it until I take the jib down for the summer.

I don't believe I would use 1/4" halyards for either sail. Especially the main halyard. I took my mast down this winter and I am going to replace the main halyard in the spring. Depending on whether I need to replace the sheave, I want to use as a thick a line as possible.

Just my opinion...

Good luck
Chris

 

[sunwindsea]

Thanks, Chris. Wow, your wife went up the mast! What a sailor! I don't think my wife would do that. (She might be willing to get a picture of me going up!) Yes, I have decided that 1/4 inch is too small. I am thinking of 5/16, and if that doesn't work well, I will use on the jib, and go for larger line with larger sheave on the main. I may have to go up the mast after all.

Thanks to all for advice. Much appreciated!