Helia 44: Helia Main Halyard

[StarryHorizons]

As part of our outfitting, we're making some changes to the rigging/mainsail to hopefully be able to actually drop the main easily and not have to go to the mast and pull down the sail, or rig a downhaul as I mentioned in the Rig and Sails thread.

As part of this, I ordered a new smaller diameter main halyard with a dyneema core to help reduce friction in the setup, primarily through the Spinlock stopper (14mm line through a max 14mm stopper is bound to have some friction!). The Owner's Guide for the Helia lists the length of the main halyard at 55m (180ish feet for us Yanks) and that's what I ordered.

WARNING!!! This is too short! After running the new line all the way through the mast, I discovered that it barely will wrap 3 times around the winch, leaving only about a foot of a tail, not nearly enough.

So I went ahead and measured the halyard that came with the boat. Lo and behold, it was actually about 63m/207ft! I'm not sure why there is such a difference, but consider this your heads up if you ever consider replacing your main halyard.

David

[cwjohm]

The moral of the story is never trust an FP owners manual. I told the rigger I wanted a 10ml dyneema halyard exactly the same length as the one on the boat. Works like a dream.

[StarryHorizons]

Definitely a lesson learned! Hopefully anyone doing the swap on their own in the future will see this and not make the same mistake.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[monte]

Not too big a deal really so long as it reaches the clutch. I allways pull our main up by hand till its clear of the lazy jacks anyway. Its faster and easier if you have to ease out or pull faster to get the batten to clear the lazy jacks. Good point on measuring yourself though, Lagoon have given me 3 different measuremants for air draft so I think ill be measuring myself if I ever have to go under a low lying bridge!

[Stumble]

Luckily you have a dyneema core. Obviously it's too short, but have a rigger taper the core back 10' or so and it will increase the useful leingth of the line by 20'. More than enough