Halyard replacements, messenger loop splices.
I would actually recommend replacing the halyard with one that is just line. Don't know your boat, I have a Hunter 34, but I have broken halyards before and it's a real pain. No way to get inside the mast, pull the old one out, go up the mast with a ball of twine, kite string, etc with lead sinkers tied to the end. Drop it down to the bottom of the mast and have someone fish it out with a coat hanger. This is by far the worst part, it sometimes takes a while to pull it up and down, grab it, etc.. The, tie your new line (which you'll have spliced with a shackle by now and ready to go in advance) to the messenger line and you're good to go. I recently spliced loops into the tail end of my halyards to facilitate tieing on the messenger line, we do this on the race boats a lot here. This also lets me easily pull out the old halyards and run messenger lines for winter storage, so cheap messenger lines are sitting outside over the winter instead of my expensive halyards. If you don't do this make sure you tape the new halyard onto the messenger very securely so that they don't separate during this process. I replaced my main halyard with Sta-SetX from West Marine, good if you're a cruiser. If you race go with something with even less stretch (and more cost of course). I had the guys at West do the splicing for me in advance of the shackle and the loop I have described. GQ "Feeling Free" Hunter 34
