How to cleaning halyard on the boat
- Thread starter Hayden Watson
- Start date
With no sail up I'd knot the tail of the halyard so it can't get lost in the mast. Then pull as much halyard as possible out of the mast and put it in a bucket of detergent and water. Agitate and rinse. Then with a sail on pull as much halyard as possible by the tail and repeat.
Of course it would be easier to use a runner to take the halyard off the boat and put it in a commercial washing machine but that wasn't the question.
Of course it would be easier to use a runner to take the halyard off the boat and put it in a commercial washing machine but that wasn't the question.
If one is going to go to the trouble of laundering lines, that's the only way to do it.
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 23,352
Moderate success can be accomplished by getting a big bucket, some liquid soap, and water up on deck. Run as much line as you can without watching the halyard go flying to the top of the mast…
Dunk the line in the soapy water. Reach in to your elbows and swirl the mixture about in a washing motion. Let rest. Repeat washing motion and rest cycle a couple of times.
Toss dirty water. Fill bucket with clean water of the washing machine hand cycle till the soap is gone.
Hang lines about boat to dry.
Best done when temps are above 60 and it is not raining. Though rain might add a few free rinse cycles.
Boat gets a little cleaning in the process.
Two for one.
Dunk the line in the soapy water. Reach in to your elbows and swirl the mixture about in a washing motion. Let rest. Repeat washing motion and rest cycle a couple of times.
Toss dirty water. Fill bucket with clean water of the washing machine hand cycle till the soap is gone.
Hang lines about boat to dry.
Best done when temps are above 60 and it is not raining. Though rain might add a few free rinse cycles.
Boat gets a little cleaning in the process.
Two for one.
I was told, or read here, to add a rinse agent to the rinse cycle when machine washing to fully rinse and make the hand nicer. Don't know if it harms or helps, but I've done it for years if removing, and nothing bad seems to happen. May want to add a quarter cup to your rinse cycle.
I once thought it was correct and cool and technical to splice shackles onto my halyards, and that's what I did 20 years ago, even learning how to splice parallel core, low stretch stuff. Now, I put a Flemish eye on each end and tie one end to a shackle with a halyard hitch, seized. That way, I can end-for-end the halyard, thus extending its life, and easily swap it for a messenger for whatever reason.
If you can find a commercial laundromat that is VERY close to the water perhaps you get the best of both worlds.
I tested cleaning a section of line and was very underwhelmed with the results so plan to remove the halyards for proper cleaning. The first two I tried did not work so good. I was careful with my butt-splice to not increase the diameter and keep it tight but the splice would not pass through the masthead sheeve. My halyards are all 3/8" diameter and that is the largest size recommended for the sheeves in the system and my splices will not fit through no matter how smoot I make them.
I am thinking that I will try to seize the line about 6" from the end and then pull back the cover to that point and taper the core over a couple of inches and then seize the cover at the end. That should reduce the diameter of the end of the line down to about half size and make it more supple.
I am thinking that I will try to seize the line about 6" from the end and then pull back the cover to that point and taper the core over a couple of inches and then seize the cover at the end. That should reduce the diameter of the end of the line down to about half size and make it more supple.
I generally use a 1/2 straightened paper clip to pin the lines together, the metal makes a pretty strong joint, and you can bury the ends of the clip into each line. A few wraps of sail tape keeps the paper clip from pulling out. Or maybe a few wraps of thread would do it. It should be pretty flexible.
I dont have any line at the house to demonstrate, but imagine the hooks at each end of the paper clip buried in the braid, with as little space between them as possible. Then a wrap or 2 of tape to hold it together. It doesn’t take much.
Greg
I dont have any line at the house to demonstrate, but imagine the hooks at each end of the paper clip buried in the braid, with as little space between them as possible. Then a wrap or 2 of tape to hold it together. It doesn’t take much.
Greg
I have successfully used Gorilla Tape, at first with some SS wire done like Greg's paper clip, but then after seeing how hard it was to remove the Gorilla Tape from the line I didn't bother with the SS wire. The tape is such a pain to remove I usually just cut the end off the line.
Thanks for the suggestion thinwater. Will that loop without the core be smaller diameter and more supply than the rope with core?
I tried both reeving loop and sewing two halyards together shown in this video yesterday although the pulling line was smaller diameter on the mouse line than the halyard when I tried sewing the lines together.
With both methods, the square end of the halyard would hang up on the edge of the exit block at the mast head. It did not get stuck, it just hit the end solid and would not go any farther.
I found two videos for reeving eyes.
On this one the end of the cover increases the diameter where is laps past the core but the loop still looks like it might be at least as large as the line.
This video shows one with the cover stopping at the end of the core but the core is not held to the cover in any way so won't that let it slide back into the cover too far?
Just to be clear, I did not have a problem with making an end-to-end connection between my halyard and the mouse line. The problem was that the square end of the halyard hit an edge inside the masthead and did not make the turn.
My thought was to remove the core back 6" from the end of the cover and use whipping twine to sew through the cover and core then whip at the end of the core to lock them together. I plan to add a reeving loop (not reeving eye) to the end of the single layer cover which should make it about half the diameter of the line and very supple.
Anyone see any problems with this idea?
My thought was to remove the core back 6" from the end of the cover and use whipping twine to sew through the cover and core then whip at the end of the core to lock them together. I plan to add a reeving loop (not reeving eye) to the end of the single layer cover which should make it about half the diameter of the line and very supple.
Anyone see any problems with this idea?
If you think in terms of a tapered splice instead of a butt splice and use a smaller leader such as paracord for your pull line you should be able to test it by pulling it across a square edge before even sending it back up the mast. I've often found that pulling a line with a hard spot or a knot in it will always hang up if there's a place for it to do that.
I have not knot or hard spot other than the whipping which actually reduces the diameter. It is the square end of the halyard were the core and cover are whipped with the reeving loop.
Attachments
50% of the strength in polyester double braid is in the cover, and so a reeving splice is the same diameter as the rope. It is very supple at the end, when it first feeds, because it is nothing but loose cover folded over. Some people order halyards with a reeving splice in one end.
On of the advantages of a reeving splice is that you are not afraid to give it a good tug; it will hold tons, depending on how it is made.
A reeving loop works too, but the melted end lump can't be too big and it is a little more fussy to make IMO. And the reeving splice can be used over and over.
On of the advantages of a reeving splice is that you are not afraid to give it a good tug; it will hold tons, depending on how it is made.
A reeving loop works too, but the melted end lump can't be too big and it is a little more fussy to make IMO. And the reeving splice can be used over and over.
I ended up adding a Reeving Eye to one end and pulled all four halyards out of the boat and took them home for cleaning. Three of them turned out great. The 4th one got about 10 core hernias about every 24" starting at the shackle. I was able to get all of them back inside the cover with the exception of the one closest to the shackle. I ended up cutting off the eye splice and putting in a new one so that I could use that to pull the last of the core back inside. It is still a mess with lots of stretching in the core at each hernia. I retired that one from genoa furler to the spare/pole topping lift. Now I just need to keep my eye out for a line sale.