Bobby Steele
Member II
I noticed our mainsail halyard is fraying - so we're due for a replacement. My question is; should I stay with wire/rope, or go with dyneema rope? It seems it'd be much easier to splice to dyneema.
Wire or Dyneema on Halyard?
- Thread starter Bobby Steele
- Start date
JSM
Member III
I got rid of the wire rope halyards on our 34-2 and went with 3/8" polyester from https://www.cajunrope.com/ .
Has been working just fine for the last six years.
Has been working just fine for the last six years.
I use Endura braid, and with any Dyneema the diameter can be as small as your hands and clutches can bear. And yeah, runs fine through sheaves designed for wire.
Bobby Steele
Member II
I’m not really sure what’s meant by double- braid etc… but I’m pretty much sold on the dynema. Should I use all dynema on the halyards, or splice it to the regular rope as with wire? I plan on replacing all of our lines. The previous owner must’ve bought a spool of line, since they’re all the same which gets confusing at times. We’re going for different colors to avoid dropping the main when we were supposed to loose the sheet…
Wire-to-rope halyards starting being phased out in the early to mid 80's, and boat builders installed them thru that decade because it remained more economical for them and the buyers were used to seeing them on boats.
By the 90's very low stretch line was common enough at a competitive price that the old rationale for the wire part of the halyard was becoming historic.
Just put a modern low stretch line on. We changed to T-900 in the 90's and it will likely outlive us. Lots of newer line types now at competitive pricing.... just watch for annual sales from the better chandlers.
www.neropes.com
Wire develops meat hooks and is hard on sheaves, too. Also, it's heavy.
When you remove it, and hold an appropriate parting ceremony, sell the old ss wire to the metal recycling place, and save the line tail for a spare bit for an emergency use. I recall getting about $35. for my old pile of ss rigging wire, a long time ago.
If unsure of line terminology, you can search on terms like Double Braid, Single Braid, Plaited Line, Three strand, and get acquainted with the recommended uses.
ps: no matter how well worded the chandler ad might be, do not use "StaSetX" ...
By the 90's very low stretch line was common enough at a competitive price that the old rationale for the wire part of the halyard was becoming historic.
Just put a modern low stretch line on. We changed to T-900 in the 90's and it will likely outlive us. Lots of newer line types now at competitive pricing.... just watch for annual sales from the better chandlers.
Performance
www.neropes.com
Wire develops meat hooks and is hard on sheaves, too. Also, it's heavy.
When you remove it, and hold an appropriate parting ceremony, sell the old ss wire to the metal recycling place, and save the line tail for a spare bit for an emergency use. I recall getting about $35. for my old pile of ss rigging wire, a long time ago.
If unsure of line terminology, you can search on terms like Double Braid, Single Braid, Plaited Line, Three strand, and get acquainted with the recommended uses.
ps: no matter how well worded the chandler ad might be, do not use "StaSetX" ...
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Bobby Steele
Member II
What is the issue with the Sta-Set lines? Are they not good just as Halyards? Can they work well enough as Sheets? According the the E34-2 manual, it calls for 58’rope/54’wire - so I’ll need 112’ of Dyneema. Or is some of those lengths for the overlap of splicing?
Different type of line construction. No relation to "Sta Set X".
It depends. Are your halyards led aft? Do you want to have "extra" in some maneuvers?
I think the spec for the spinnaker halyards on my 32-III, for example, was something on the order of 98 feet (if led aft) I measured and calculated and ended up making them 110 feet because I wanted enough extra to be able to run a slack spinnaker halyard around the outside of the headsail for a bear-away hoist
It's much easier to shorten a halyard than it is to lengthen one....
Bobby Steele
Member II
All of our halyards are led aft. The current mail halyard runs to the helm. I plan on lengthening our traveler lines to reach the helm.
So many options... Thanks!
So many options... Thanks!
Double braid, from my observation means a core and a cover. The cover will help protect the dyneema core from chafe. The main problem with dyneema in my opinion. That and you can't knot it very easily. You can however splice and eye rather quickly if you don't include the cover.
I don’t even think you can get wire/rope combo anymore. Either way, dyneema all the way. It’s stronger and lighter than the wire/rope combo. We made the switch about 12 years ago on our E27. Just do a single solid piece, and consider switching to running your halyards internal to the mast at the same time.
That manual for the 34-2 was written at least 34 years ago, well before Dyneema became well known in the 1990s. Wire was used to minimize stretch, and that is exactly what Dyneema excels at too. Plus it costs a lot less.
Sta-set will work as a halyard, but with the ability to act like a spring your sail won't be as efficient. The springiness of Stay-set does work well for sheets to give some shock absorption when a sail snaps in gusts or gibes and can prevent damage to hardware.
p.gazibara
Member III
Wire doesn't belong on the modern yacht! Brion Toss was even quoted saying something like "wire will be a blip in rigging history" or something along those lines, when refering to dyneema. Unless it's under a rolling furler where chafe is an issue, even the stays can be swapped for a type of dyneema.
I have swapped nearly all of the rigging on Cinderella now, both standing and running. Our shrouds are dux, checkstays are dyneema core, halyards are poly doublebraid (though I wish the main and one spin halyard were done in a dyneema cored rope for the low stretch and abrasion resistance). Both my babystay and inner forestay are dyneema and can be attached and tensioned via simple block and tackle. The benefit is they can be removed and clipped aside to open foredeck space when lifting the dinghy on deck or when short tacking out narrow channels. I also added a retracting sprit with a dyneema bobstay for the genaker on a roller.
When rope wears, it shows it. You begin to see it fray and discolor. This is a sign it is time to change it. You can still run your hand along the line, no meat hook. That alone was enough for me to swap. The added benefit is that it can be spliced very easily with basic tools and you can carry a spool (weighs very little) to replace any rigging that might wear, regardless of what remote island you may find yourself anchored off.
I used the standard poly doublebraid I found at Fisheries for my halyards, I think it was sta-set but I could be wrong. I would not use it again, it gets very rough on the hands with salt/sun over time. I spent a little more on the line for the jib furler, it is a Marlow brand double braid, its amazing. always easy on the hands, and has stood up exceptionally well to the sun.
-p
I have swapped nearly all of the rigging on Cinderella now, both standing and running. Our shrouds are dux, checkstays are dyneema core, halyards are poly doublebraid (though I wish the main and one spin halyard were done in a dyneema cored rope for the low stretch and abrasion resistance). Both my babystay and inner forestay are dyneema and can be attached and tensioned via simple block and tackle. The benefit is they can be removed and clipped aside to open foredeck space when lifting the dinghy on deck or when short tacking out narrow channels. I also added a retracting sprit with a dyneema bobstay for the genaker on a roller.
When rope wears, it shows it. You begin to see it fray and discolor. This is a sign it is time to change it. You can still run your hand along the line, no meat hook. That alone was enough for me to swap. The added benefit is that it can be spliced very easily with basic tools and you can carry a spool (weighs very little) to replace any rigging that might wear, regardless of what remote island you may find yourself anchored off.
I used the standard poly doublebraid I found at Fisheries for my halyards, I think it was sta-set but I could be wrong. I would not use it again, it gets very rough on the hands with salt/sun over time. I spent a little more on the line for the jib furler, it is a Marlow brand double braid, its amazing. always easy on the hands, and has stood up exceptionally well to the sun.
-p