Wire-Rope Halyard replacement please help

[CNein001]

Thank you for reading. I am trying to replace my wire to rope halyards. The sheath up top is too narrow to allow the rope section of my old halyard to pass through. I have read online about how you can thread rope halyards together and pull them through.

Is there a similar mechanism to attach wire to wire that anyone knows about? Or any other way of replacing wire-rope halyards without going up the mast? Thank you for your time,

Chris

 

[Alec]

Chris,
Donno if it's the proper way, but what I did is as follows:

1: Tie a retrieval line as long as the mast is high to the shackle on the old wire.

2: Pull on the rope end of the old halyard until you have the rope to wire splice in your hand.

3: Cut the wire on the old halyard. (a Dremel tool with a cutting disk will make short work of this)

4: Unravel one set of wires of the old halyard for about 6". Lay in half of a 12" section of Nylon Filament tape (very strong). Do the same with the shaclkle end of the new halyard (hopefully you havn't attached the shackle yet).

5: Lay another section of nylon filament tape over top of the newly connected halyards, rolling it around both.

6: You now have a strong connection tying the wires together. Pull the retrieval line you added in step #1 to pull the old wire & new through the masthead & then add your shackle.

You're done!

 

[Joe]

It's called a messenger line. You can tape a small diameter cord/string to the wire after removing the shackle. Masking tape works, or you could use plastic tape too. Attach the cord with a rolling hitch...smoothly apply a layer of tape over the knot and up a few inches on the either side so it won't catch. Now... pull the haylard out from the rope end...being carefull not to jerk it harshly when the knot goes through the sheave.... Pull all the way through... attach the messenger line to the new halyard's wire end.... pull back through... attach the new shackle. There should be very little, if any, resistance when using the messenger line... You can find small diameter, strong cord at Home Deport in 100 ft packs for a few bucks.

 

[CNein001]

Thanks a lot for both of your great advice! I will definitely use one of these tomorrow and post the results.

 

[CNein001]

Alec (or someone else): Can you please detail step 4 a little further? Thank you for your time.

 

[Joe]

a simple rolling hitch and some tape will work... flaying open the wire is unnecessary, in my opinion. You're not going to put any weight on it... I've actually done it by just wrapping string around the wire and covering with masking tape.