Main halyard

[BobFord]

Experience please -I need to replace Main Halyard . Existing is becoming very hard to winch up. It is (3) part and hauls by electric winch and is Double braid polyester .16mm. I need a quality rope that will take a heavy load , without bunching up inner/ outer. Your experience appreciated .

[SailingHarmonie]

Are you sure the existing one is double braid polyester? It’s very odd that the cover and core of that kind of line get out of balance with use, unless the whipping has come off the end and they are free to slide.

But anyway…

This seems the perfect application for a high tech core line. Light, flexible, strong, low stretch. If you were using polyester, you could downsize to 12 or 14 and still be stronger. Some are better than others for running on a winch. I use V100 without ever having problems with cover slip. Others work as well.

Again, if you are sure you had polyester, check the size of the sleeves. The high tech lines do not like to take tight turns. Any brand you consider should have a spec for minimum bend radius under load.

[Tin Tin]

You could replace the halyard with 12mm dyneema and that will be plenty strong enough and will have a lot less friction. Have you lubricated your batten cars with McLube one drop - makes a world of difference.

[El Pinguino]

Speak to the people at Sydney Rope Supplies
https://sydneyropesupplies.com.au
about their Donaghy's - NZ made - Spectra or their Australian made equivalent which I think is made by Whittams in Melbourne.
Both quality products - I have both on my boat.

[Benz]

A common problem with halyards that deadend at the masthead (sounds like yours does), is that twist, induced by the winch, works its way up the rope and gathers aloft, getting worse and worse with each hoist.
When you replace your halyard, and the other posters have given good advice on this, see about a swivel at the deadend. Make sure it's one that can swivel under load--if it has a thrust bearing it should work; if it just a shackle that "can" spin, it's not so good.
Cover/core slippage is common when ropes get loaded and passed around radiuses, especially if one of them is not a moving sheave (are your sheaves all working correctly?). The action tends to "milk" the cover 'till you have a bunch-up at one end, or it milks off and you have a length of empty cover at the end of your rope.

[BobFord]

Many thanks for the information and your experiences. Key points for me - a swivel at dead end and a hi-tech rope. Opinions please -I have Dyneema elsewhere and find that slipping on winch drum a nuisance. I am looking at Spectra , noted as having a non-slip coating. Your experience please with Spectra ?

[SailingHarmonie]

Originally Posted by BobFord

Many thanks for the information and your experiences. Key points for me - a swivel at dead end and a hi-tech rope. Opinions please -I have Dyneema elsewhere and find that slipping on winch drum a nuisance. I am looking at Spectra , noted as having a non-slip coating. Your experience please with Spectra ?

For a halyard, you should definitely use a covered high tech line. If covered, the slipping on the winch goes away, no matter what the core material. Look for lines specifically made for using on a winch, the core will be tighter and slip less. Most of the hightech lines are basically polyethylene, and in bare form they are very slippery.

Here is another advantage of a cored high tech line. If your boat is 71 feet and you have a 2:1 halyard, you must have a MILE of line to handle. With the sail dropped, you need three mast lengths, plus a bit. That's what, 250 feet? Maybe more if you have a tall rig!

You can reduce the bulk of that by stripping the core out of much of it, and having core in just the length of the mast, plus, maybe, 50%? Enough so that the core is well on the winch when the load starts to build.

It will reduce the weight and bulk and increase the flexibility of the tail you have to handle enormously.

[Jimbo2010]

Dyneema is great, but you may want to slip is cover a feet from the winch.

Another method is to slip any line inside the Dyneema a few feet from winch.

Lastly just get line with Dyneema core, New England Ropes Endura Braid

12-strand Dyneema SK75 (core) / 24-carrier polyester

14 mm (9/16")Average Tensile Strength: 25,200 lbs

[Benz]

Originally Posted by BobFord

Many thanks for the information and your experiences. Key points for me - a swivel at dead end and a hi-tech rope. Opinions please -I have Dyneema elsewhere and find that slipping on winch drum a nuisance. I am looking at Spectra , noted as having a non-slip coating. Your experience please with Spectra ?

Spectra and Dyneema are the same thing from different manufacturers.
Spectra is slowly fading away as Dyneema has done better at keeping up with innovation and sheer manufacturing volume.

You will always have slippage with bare dyneema on a winch. Definitely get covered Dyneema rope; if you can afford it, get a cover with polyester/technora blend, which will last longer in the winch and grab better in the clutch.
I wouldn't strip the cover off, simply because it will protect the load-bearing core from chafe and UV. The weight savings of using dyneema-cored vs the all polyester braid will already be significant.

[Bowdrie]

Any multi-purchase halyard that doesn't dead-end up in the air on the mast is a good thing.
Several ways to rig, (increase/decrease purchase,) you just choose between 3 generalities.
1, dead end on deck.
2, dead end at the sails head.
3, use a double-ended halyard.

[BobFord]

Hi Benz, Thank you for the info. Since starting this thread ,I have spoken to the original Rigger of my mast and have discovered that my Main Halyard is in fact, sheathed Dyneema.It is approx 250 feet long. I now wonder if the hauling tension is created by the rope twisting ,as you noted. At this time ,i'm inclined to install a swivel at dead end. i'm assuming that the sheath doesn't bunch up . I'd also try to view the head when the sail is set up.Thinking about how to do that !??

[Benz]

Originally Posted by BobFord

Hi Benz, Thank you for the info. Since starting this thread ,I have spoken to the original Rigger of my mast and have discovered that my Main Halyard is in fact, sheathed Dyneema.It is approx 250 feet long. I now wonder if the hauling tension is created by the rope twisting ,as you noted. At this time ,i'm inclined to install a swivel at dead end. i'm assuming that the sheath doesn't bunch up . I'd also try to view the head when the sail is set up.Thinking about how to do that !??

It's unusual for the cover to bunch up aloft. Commonly it milks off the back end, and as the line gets older there's a longer empty section of cover. This is why you put a reeving eye in the cover and don't whip the cover to the core.
You can go aloft on another halayard while the main is up to see what's going on. Be good to see if all your sheaves are spinning freely...

[Fintry]

You might want to check that the sheaves are all running freely. When we bought Sweetwater, they were all plain bearings -- stainless steel and Delrin -- and badly gooped up with salt. We replaced them with ball bearing sheaves from Harken.


Jim


Sweetwater - Swan 57 sloop - circumnavigated 1995-98
Fintry - x Royal Navy Fleet Tender 2003-22 20k miles including x-Atlantic The Fleet Tender Fintry
Morning Light -- Webbers Cove 42 trawler 2021- 23
Going back to sailing now that Morning Light is sold.