This is the third in a series of maintenance tips gleaned from a presentation given by Dave Thompson of Eggers Sail makers. Today halyards.
1. How long do halyards last?. It varies a lot but you should expect to get 10 years out of a good halyard. Wire lasts a lot longer.
2. What’s better wire or rope? People are switching to rope but in Dave Thompson’s opinion, this is mostly the power of advertising. Rope halyards are advertised relatively heavily. Wire gets no promotion but in his view, wire is superior. It doesn’t stretch and lasts a lot longer. Moreover some of the high tech ropes are very expensive and don’t last long enough.
3. What’s better a thicker or thinner halyard? Thinner is better as it offers less windage and weight. Typically thinner halyard are made out of stronger material. Most importantly they stretch less.
Blast, these experts are always focused on what seems like the important stuff – which kind of rope to use, strength, stretch, weight aloft, etc.
But those of us who are incompetent know the worst part is feeding the new line up through the mast and hoping it doesn’t get stuck in there. Everyone has their own theory about how to attach the new line to the end of the old line so that it doesn’t come loose inside the mast and doesn’t jam at the top.
If successful, the procedure uses up vast amounts of karma – you really shouldn’t try doing anything risky for the rest of the day.
That would have been a great question to ask. I ran new halyards last year. It was made easier by having stepped the mast. What I did was remove the shackle from the old halyard and then sew the bitter end of the new halyard to where the shackle was. I taped the joint for safety and then pulled it through verrrrrry carefully. Worked a charm. Could have done it without the mast stepped too
So as you see, because of the self serving interests of both parties.