To Fancy or Not To Fancy.. Hallyard Question.

[xeon_tsd]

I am going to replace the halyard for my Genoa (roller furling), of that there is no doubt. In my penny pinching ways (hey money saved can be spent elsewhere or on rum). Is it worth spending twice the price (or more) to get a dyneema cored line? Yes it does not stretch, but I could always simply tighten the halyard a few times. The PITA part of that is once I have the line tight on the winch, transferring said tightness to the cleat. I was fully planning on the dyneema, when the sales guy said why spend the money, your not racing.

[Tim R.]

Dyneema is a waste of money if you are not racing unless you really want it. You should also have a clutch in front of your winch to eliminate the line transfer to the cleat problem.

[xeon_tsd]

I agree that I *should* have a clutch but at this point i do not... only have one clutch on the mast and it goes to the starboard spinnaker. Definitely something i am pondering.. the money saved in line could be used on a clutch.. but damn the rum sounds better haha

[Stumble]

Dyneema is actually cheaper on a per lbs of breaking strength than sta-set. It's just more expensive on a size by size comparison, and endura and other covered dyneema is even more expensive than that sized solid dyneema.

Without a clutch you really can't control leech tension unless you have a down haul, which is pretty rare. So that would be my first priority. Then look at line. Since it sounds like the halyard isn't going to be adjusted often I would probably go with amsteel sized on strength from the cleat to the masthead, with a chaser line of 1/8" amsteel to hoist the sail.

So on a 50' mast... 60' of say 1/4" with an additional 50' of 1/8" tapered in. It will save weight, money, and clutter on the deck.

[roverhi]

For a jib halyard on a roller furling foil, stretch really isn't an issue. You will have little problem maintaining enough tension on the luff for proper sail shape. 7/16" StaSet X would be more than strong enough and easy on the hands for manually hauling up the sail. If you want to spend a bit more, New England ropes VPC gives the low stretch of a bit of Vectran but less costly than the all Vectran cored line. It also isn't as stiff as StaSet X so easier to handle.

If you are one of those anal racer types willing to spend big bucks to get lowest stretch, lightest weight halyard and have a wheelbarrow full of money, go with Samson Warpspeed or NE V100 in 3/8". Of course, if you are really anal, do what Stumble says. The lightest set up but a real finger eater for manual hauling.

Keep an eye on Ebay, rope clutches turn up all the time for $50, plus or minus. If the winch is also going to be used for other halyards, that would be my first acquisition.

[xeon_tsd]

I can get NEW clutches for $50 from Garhauer, and the money not spent on the Jib halyard will buy me a couple of clutches =).

AND they are on sale for an additional 20% off this month.. timing is everything...
AND AND they will be at the Houston boat show next weekend. once again timing....

or i could spend 2x's as much on clutches and get Lewmar or other brands...

Thanks everyone. =)

[Cheechako]

are you using that winch for more than one thing? Why the trouble transferring it to the cleat?

[xeon_tsd]

the issue is the location of the cleat in relation to the winch. it is a bit odd... maybe wont be too bad but for the main it is sorta a PITA. BUT for a $50 solution to the problem seems an easy choice. I have 2 winches on port and 1 on starboard with 5 halyards: Jib, Staysail, Main, and 2 Spinnaker. This will make life easier for sure. and relatively cheap for boat shi..err stuff.

[Stumble]

Go with the clutches. Not being able to control luff tension is a major issue, since you can't flatten the sail in strong wind. Admittedly most cruisers don't adjust the halyard very often, they should.

As Rover mentioned my preference is a bit of a pain when raising or lowering the sail since you are using such a small line, but it is the cheapest way to go. The trick is to have a long enough full size length that the larger line falls on the winch, if you mess this up the line is junk since you can't apply much load on 1/8" line.

[Tayana42]

My mast set up is like yours with the same winch serving the main halyard and the roller furling jib halyard. The cleat for the jib halyard is below the winch so transferring the halyard under tension was a problem until I used a piece of line with a rolling hitch on the halyard above the winch brought down to the winch. That left the tail of the halyard free to make off to the cleat, then remove the line that was hitched to the halyard. Easy peasy.

Sent from my LG-P769 using Tapatalk

[Nicholson58]

Just visited Wolf"s Marine in Benton Harbor, Mi last weekend. We bought 600 ft of 5/8 stay-set at 1.53/ft. They have massive piles of roll stock and odd lengths. Also - clutches. This is NOS, overstock, out of business liquidation etc. Call them - they are very helpful. The site shows only a small fraction of the inventory. Ask - they may have it.

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