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Old 28-09-2020, 11:20   #1
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Winter Halyard Care

I store my boat shrink wrapped on the hard for winter. I leave the mast up.

I just replaced all the halyards. Does anybody pull down their halyards and replace them with cheap messager lines to pull the halyards up again before launching?
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Old 28-09-2020, 11:51   #2
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Re: Winter Halyard Care

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Old 28-09-2020, 13:50   #3
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Re: Winter Halyard Care

Hi, Tmacmi,

We have friends who, when they left their boats, snapped the halyard shackle (and of course you could tie them if yours doesn't have a shackle) to a messenger line, and pulled it to the masthead. Then they bagged the tails of the halyards in Sunbrella bags. They were in the tropics. For you, at your location, just use something to keep the line clean. Pull it back down at launching time.

Ann
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Old 28-09-2020, 15:18   #4
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Re: Winter Halyard Care

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Originally Posted by JPA Cate View Post
Hi, Tmacmi,

We have friends who, when they left their boats, snapped the halyard shackle (and of course you could tie them if yours doesn't have a shackle) to a messenger line, and pulled it to the masthead. Then they bagged the tails of the halyards in Sunbrella bags. They were in the tropics. For you, at your location, just use something to keep the line clean. Pull it back down at launching time.

Ann
Thanks Ann! Great solution for halyards that run internal to the mast. Unfortunately mine run entirely outside the mast. I'd have to completely undo mine and take the risk of re-running them with the messengers.

I
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Old 28-09-2020, 15:55   #5
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Re: Winter Halyard Care

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Originally Posted by Tmacmi View Post
Thanks Ann! Great solution for halyards that run internal to the mast. Unfortunately mine run entirely outside the mast. I'd have to completely undo mine and take the risk of re-running them with the messengers.



I

What’s the risk of using messengers? We’ve used them for all our halyards, reefing lines and other exposed running rigging where it’s difficult to lead a line without a messenger when we’ve left the boat for an extended period of time. As long as you trust your knots and/or whippings, there’s no reason to fear messenger lines.

The biggest pain is having enough messenger lines that are long enough to do all the round trips up the mast.

When buying new halyards/reefing lines/etc add reeving eyes to the tail ends to make it easier to connect messenger lines. https://theriggingco.com/2016/01/31/...-halyards/amp/
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Old 28-09-2020, 16:51   #6
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Re: Winter Halyard Care

Every fall I haul out, which unfortunately is coming up soon. I remove every line from my boat including Halyards. I take them, even mooring lines to a laundromat and wash them.


I have three laundry baskets full. I then take them home and hang them in the unfinished part of our basement. It takes about 1.5 hours to untangle them, coil them and hang them.
Every spring my lines are soft and flexible and in my opinion last a lot longer.
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Old 28-09-2020, 18:34   #7
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Re: Winter Halyard Care

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Originally Posted by Tmacmi View Post
I store my boat shrink wrapped on the hard for winter. I leave the mast up.

I just replaced all the halyards. Does anybody pull down their halyards and replace them with cheap messager lines to pull the halyards up again before launching?

We are in Minnesota with a similar sized boat and unstep the mast every fall. At our marina it is inexpensive and they handle everything. Less risk of damage in a winter storm, we keep the boat on its trailer, stick up would make it more vulnerable.


We have internal halyards. At present our strategy is just to leave them exposed. They are new and will last five years if we leave them exposed. On a smaller boat it depends what your time is worth, we do have reeving eyes but it's the fettling spring and fall. My feeling is that on a smaller boat it just isn't worth it and we're better off replacing them sooner rather than taking them off and putting them on every winter.
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Old 30-09-2020, 03:31   #8
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Re: Winter Halyard Care

By all means messenger them out and store them dry and sheltered. How long can it possibly take? I go aloft every year to take down my halyards that deadend up there--it takes less time to do that than it takes me to earn enough money to buy new halyards.
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Old 30-09-2020, 07:47   #9
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Re: Winter Halyard Care

Thanks to everyone! My only concern comes when I have to re-run the halyards next year and any problems getting them through the sheaves. If I can't get one run, then I'll have to get a cherry picker.

I don't think its a huge risk
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