New sailor....needs new halyards for the refit.

[Meriachee]

A 1” piece is more than enough, it does take careful attention to not make a mess at the outer end, but I have found this to be an exceptionally robust way of ending a line. The good stuff comes in various colours too. It’s not as cheesy as it would appear to be.

 

[LeslieTroyer]

Heat shrink, Flemish eyes —. I say just “Whip It!!”

You dirty minded folks can have fun with that.

 

[dlochner]

A 1” piece is more than enough, it does take careful attention to not make a mess at the outer end, but I have found this to be an exceptionally robust way of ending a line. The good stuff comes in various colours too. It’s not as cheesy as it would appear to be.

Oh we can take this simple solution and make much more complicated.

Use a little longer piece and then with a rope cutting attachment on a soldering gun, trim the end. This should yield a nice clean cut with the fibers neatly melted at the end. A heat gun will make for neater shrink wraps than a torch or lighter.

 

[dlochner]

Heat shrink, Flemish eyes —. I say just “Whip It!!”

You dirty minded folks can have fun with that.

Les, great idea. Whip it first, shrink wrap, trim with rope cutting blade. Nice, neat and very secure. The whipping, especially if it is sewn through the core will keep the core from slipping in side the cover and the shrink wrap will protect the whipping.

 

[Meriachee]

Precisely. If you get a good melt on the glue, which is usually 11 milliseconds before the line starts to melt, I've actually found that the core doesn't ever move. You can't use a torch, it'll just make a mess, and that inevitable mushroom at the end is ugly, and then it does look cheesy.

 

[LeslieTroyer]

I use a Sailrite hotknife. Always better looking than me.

 

[shemandr]

I like the glued heat shrink idea. It would be especially useful if the new halyard diameter and old halyard diameter differ. I think you could then skip the messenger line step. I've end to end-ed old and new halyards many times with different techniques.
I like to have a spliced eye put in when I purchase the line. If you ordered line with two splices it likely wouldn't go through the stopper and maybe not go over the sheave. If you are downsizing it could be fine. My suggestion with the second splice (Call it the tail) would be to do it shortly after installing the halyard. The line would still be new and workable. When you are ready to reverse the halyard, cut off the first splice and use a messenger to install the halyard reversed.
BTW I haven't had a problem with not being able to fully hoist the halyard with a spliced eye or with jamming. I supposed it could happen. A professionally done splice is pretty tight. I think I read that a bowline reduces the strength of a line by 30 %. You can imagine that rubbing and kinking of the fibers will shorten their life. I guess I just like a splice. It's cleaner.

 

[jssailem]

Heat shrink, Flemish eyes —. I say just “Whip It!!”

What,,,, You did not like my spliced whipped bridle?

 

[Jumpstart]

Wow. Running new halyards is not that difficult. I use 3M Super 33 electrical tape. Tape butt ends of new and old halyards together. Start about 15" above joint and spiral non overlap wrap to 15" on other side of joint. Repeat going the other way. Trick is to stretch spiral wrap tight. You can now pull as tight as you want and joint won't come apart. A sharp rigging knife when you are done to remove the tape. The whole process including running the halyard is about 10 minutes. Cost of tape is less than a reeving splice and a roll of tape can last for several halyards. I like the Super 33 tape because it is stretchy with a high tensile strength.

 

[Gunni]

Everything you ever wanted to know about running a new halyard from the boys at The Rigging Company in Annapolis.
https://theriggingco.com/2016/01/31/reeving-halyards/

 

[sailme88]

I once owned an O'28 ( 1985). I converted her to cockpit control. I removed the stbd mast winch and mounted atop the cabin behind a double cam cleat. The reef was made at the second point in slab style. Halyard and reef lines are marked to allow for a quick shorthanded reef. After installing a Tides system, I thought that the main would really drop.. Not so.. Problem was with the StaSet halyard being to stiff. My rigger made me a new halyard that incorporated a 2' end of very flexible line that removed the friction from the 2 mast head sheaves. All said and done, hoist, reef and drop the main from the cockpit. Tides system was about $800.00, winch FREE, double cam $225? and the halyard about $150.00.. Worked slick.