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Ensign Sailing Forum

HALYARDS
Author Last Post
5/21/2022 3:36 PM

So that is long enough to have cable all the way to the foot of the mast?


Turns out that’s right about where we had cut ours, but it seemed too long….


Matt Bailey

#1473 TEETEETOO
5/19/2022 10:48 AM
Main Halyard  wire   3/32 Stainless wire 27.5 ft  rope 5/16 34 ft. 
Jib Halyard   wire  3/32 stainless wire   24 ft   rope 5/16 31 ft.  
Remember wire to rope splice. 

zeke
5/19/2022 9:46 AM
After reviewing today's low-stretch ropes, we made the decision a few years back to go with all-rope halyards, losing the steel sections altogether.

We are probably losing a small amount of power in hard gusts, but do not really see any disadvantage overall. And our halyards no longer race skyward if released by inattentive crew when rigging or de-rigging!

Just my $0.02 worth, would be interested in what others have done or have to say about this choice.
5/18/2022 10:57 PM
Matt, 

I’m going over to my boat tomorrow and can take some measurements for you. I’ll report them back here.
5/18/2022 10:19 PM

So does anyone have the spec for how many feet of steel cable we want to have on each halyard? We’ve eyeballed it such that we’d have a few feet of line at the foot of the mast; not sure if that would be a fashion faux pas, but it seems odd to me to have the steel/Dacron overlap section bent hard through a block…


Thanks!


Matt Bailey

#1473 TEETEETOO
5/7/2022 9:46 PM

FWIW…. The eyes won’t fit through the sheaves, but that’s no problem. Just whip some light line onto the butt end of the old halyard and pull through, then swap for the new halyard and reverse the procedure.


I just need to get a fix on the preferred length from the eye to the end of the cable… I ended up with a couple extra feet of stainless, I think. Not really comfortable with cable running through the blocks at the base of the mast…


Measure twice, right?


Matt Bailey

#1473 TEETEETOO
3/10/2022 5:14 PM

Thank you so much everyone.
3/7/2022 10:05 AM

I've pulled a new halyard through the mast before. Just use some whipping twine to tie a marline hitch (https://www.survivalworld.com/knots/marline-hitch/) to one end of the new halyard and the other end of the twine to tie a marline hitch to one end of the old halyard. The pull through. It's pretty easy. If there's a shackle on the wire preventing it from going through the masthead sheave without being cut, it would be necessary to attach the whipping twine to the wire after cutting the shackle off. If it doesn't hold well, you could tape the whipping twine on and pull through a long length until you can attach the end to the new halyard and pull back through.


Steve Heinzelman
3/7/2022 7:54 AM
I did this last season; supply was an issue, and I ended up at West Marine, buying their pre-fab. Got some advice on the forum, so there should be a thread which could be resurrected in case you want to go with a higher performance option. 

Attached a light line to the butt of the Old and pulled through; switched the light line to the New, and reversed the process. Trickiest part was that the new Main line is heavier than the Jib, and remembering to keep those straight. Much easier to do it before the mast has been stepped. 

I do need to go back to the local store and take a bit more off of the cable. They weren’t willing to provide any services, but parts and the 1 all-important tool were available for crimping the cables. 

Matt Bailey
TEETEETOO 

1473
3/6/2022 10:22 PM

Ron,

 

I switched the halyard on my first Ensign, #150 from wire and line to all line. 

 

Yes, the sheave at the top of the mast is large enough for the all line halyard. In fact, when the main is down, I think the line part of the wire & line halyard is in the sheave.

 

I diameter of the line in the pre-made all-line halyard I purchased was the same as the diameter of the line part of the old wire & line halyard. I just measured my current all line halyard and it seems to be 3/8 inch, or perhaps 9mm, which is just a bit smaller than 3/8.

 

As for using the current halyard to pull the new one up and through the sleeve … that could work if you find a way to attach the old and new halyards together without increasing the diameter too much. I would not use tape, but heat shrink tubing might work, as long as the length of tubing was short enough to not prevent the joint from bending as it goes around the sheave. If it does not work, it seems that you are no worse off then if you took down your mast without first trying to pull the new halyard through using the old one.

 

Vic Roberts

#2032.

 
3/6/2022 9:10 PM

My boat uses the old wire to line halyard. I want to switch to straight line. My questions are these: 1) If you have done this, will the sheaves at the mast top accommodate a line or are they so narrow as to only work with wire? 2) What is the optimal line size, type, and/or brand? 3) Has anyone tried to cut the old wire at the shackle, attach a line to the wire, and pull the new line through?


Ron

1357
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