440: Best Halyard Replacement?

[PaulinOz]

Just had a quick look around the Interweb and down here (Oz) 12 mm Spectra is between 3 and 4 times the price of 14 mm double braid that is on my main halyard at present, is it that much better. I know it is stronger and lighter but the 14 mm has lasted 3 years so far so is it worth the extra money. Don't think I would notice any improvement because of the weight.
Just for this one halyard spectra is $510.00 more.

[gspeak]

Originally Posted by PaulinOz

Just had a quick look around the Interweb and down here (Oz) 12 mm Spectra is between 3 and 4 times the price of 14 mm double braid that is on my main halyard at present, is it that much better. I know it is stronger and lighter but the 14 mm has lasted 3 years so far so is it worth the extra money. Don't think I would notice any improvement because of the weight.
Just for this one halyard spectra is $510.00 more.

Is that for SpectraSpeed? I'm pretty sure that 10mm SpectraSpeed by Donaghy's would be fine for your main halyard as it has an Average Break Load: 4950kg & Whitworths list it for $6.95/M or 100M reel for $521.25.

See here

Dave

[monte]

Let me know if you want a hand. Happy to head up the mast or winch you up anytime
Cheers

[Stumble]

Just as a quick primer... Halyards are sized to control stretch not for their breaking strength, and people over time tend to just keep going up in size for no good reason. As an example my guess is your winch isn't rated past about 2,000lbs. So your halyard is about 7 times the breaking strength of the winch hauling it up.

I don't have cost for you, so I used the prices from WestMarine in the US for a couple of different options.

14mm Sta-Set X - 13,000 MBL and $2.49/foot
10mm endurabraid - 10,000 MBL and $3.51/foot
12mm endurabraid - 19,000 MBL and $4:31/foot
5/16 (8mm) amsteel blue - 13,500 MBL and $2.20/foot

My personal choice would be the amsteel with a short cover spliced on where it hits the clutch and winch, which would come out about 10% less expensive! weigh less! not absorb water! and last longer.

I think the endurabraid is overpriced and don't like to use it. The only advantage is it is fully covered, but dyneema doesn't need the abrasion cover, and is pretty resistant to UV. My current uncovered amsteel halyards are five years old and still going fine.

[dirkdig]

Might take you up on that Monte.
Our winch is a 54 lewmar electric and boy does it have grunt, used it to move the boat across pens.
Amsteel sounds the go in 12 mm.

Lagoon spec says 14 mm.

[Stumble]

Woops I was wrong about your winch. It's SWL is 3,200lbs. So the line is only 3-4 times the strength of the winch.

[coldar1]

I'm about to change out my mainsail halyard as well, so great to read the process which I'll follow. Our main halyard is probably the original (2006 build Lagoon 44) and isn't showing signs of chaffing, but it is very stiff - despite several washes, and twists at the mast head really badly even after I added a second swivel as a trial, so we often miss out on getting the mainsail closer than about 700mm from the top. Bringing the main down can also be troublesome due to the friction in the twists. Could it be from "memory" in the original halyard, or is it just symptomatic of the age?

[Stumble]

The stiffness sounds like typical polyester line aging, which can't really be washed out.

The twisting sounds like the core has been twisted inside the cover, which is symptomatic of improperly coiling the line.

The stiffness is just age, and there isn't much that can be done. The twisting can be mitigated by taking it down, and slowly trying to undo the twist by coiling the line the other way, and then straitening the line, the repeating the process. Frankly at this point it is usually so far gone it isn't worth the trouble, but it might work.

[coldar1]

Pretty much what I thought. Seems to be a fair few options out there in terms of types and diameters. Thanks for the feedback.