Hello,
I have some 6mm dyneema rope that will be replacing my rope/wire halyard.
I watched on youtube how a guy replaced his old rope halyard with a new one by joining the 2 ropes with fishing line and using the old halyard to pull the new one up and through.
Can anyone think of a way i can do this with wire and dyneema?
Without a way of doing it i will have to drop the mast which i dont want to do.
Thank for any advice :)
You do not have to attach the dyneema to the wire. You need to attach the dyneema to the tail of your current wire to rope halliard at the rope end. Stitch them together with sail twine, wrap the joint with insulating tape then pull it through from the wire end.
Come on mate. That should be fairly obvious.
Select to expand quotecisco said..
Stick with it and you will learn.
Yep, I will! :)
Cisco I have often read your posts on here and thought you had a great depth of knowledge of most things sailing but you have just confused me. Highly possible I have got this whole thing the wrong way around so apologies in advance.
But ....
If you were to attach the new dyneema to the rope end of the existing halyard and pull it through (ie pull it up and out the masthead by pulling the wire end) won't that mean that when you get that join back on deck after going up and out the mast you will be holding the dyneema (rope) end with the wire end of the new halyard at the mast? ie the wrong way around?
I am assuming that the wire end should be the bit that attaches to the head of the sail such that when the sail is hoisted the rope/wire has been pulled through to the winch so that halyard stretch is minimised while the sail is up and the rope end (easier on the hands whilst hauling it up) is the tail?
Again maybe I have misinterpreted something that should be obvious (it's been known to happen).
On a related note - If you are using Dyneema rope for a halyard is it still necessary to have the wire spliced onto the end? I thought the attraction of the new ropes like Dyneema was that they negated the need for this and therefore saved on weight aloft?
See Len76 - I've been sailing all my life and still learning 
Agree with MatM14 - you would not need wire at all when you employ dyneema for the halyard - so, full length dyneema.
I think Cisco is suggesting you discard with the wire/rope combos and eliminate the wire and the need for splicing altogether. Synthetic technology has progressed to the point where there are a range of synthetics to suit every budget and need from no expensive spared max racing performance to relaxed long cruising. So ditch the wire. I did. Save the trouble of splicing a rope end to a wire and eliminate the nuisance of slack wires flapping and marking the mast.
As I understand it we are talking about replacing a wire to rope halliard wit an all dyneema halliard. So what I was talking about was pulling the new halliard through the mast via the exit slot in the mast near the winch or turning block.
It's all clear as mud just like everything else on a yacht.
Cisco is correct in that i want to replace a wire/rope halyard with a full dyneema halyard.
The reason i thought i couldnt do it his way is because of a stopper that prevent me from pulling the rope through once the rope reaches the top and i didnt think the thick rope would fit in the sheave for 4mm wire.
I will see if i can remove the stopper next time i'm down there lol, seems so simple now haha :P
Cheers Cisco
Some turning blocks are designed / shaped for wire (when under load) Check that the block is cool with the dyneema.
And this is why I dig this site.
You learn something new and useful everyday (some good days every 2 hours).
Select to expand quoteLordRumpunc said..
Some turning blocks are designed / shaped for wire (when under load) Check that the block is cool with the dyneema.
I'm also about to replace the rope/wire combination on my Top Hat Stonedpirate and we are pretty sure that we will have to replace the blocks.
Planning to do this early in Jan 2014 and will report result on the Top Hat site; www.tophatyachts.com
Select to expand quotenswsailor said..LordRumpunc said..
I'm also about to replace the rope/wire combination on my Top Hat Stonedpirate and we are pretty sure that we will have to replace the blocks. sheaves.
Planning to do this early in Jan 2014 and will report result on the Top Hat site; www.tophatyachts.com
There fixed it for ya.
I did the replacement on my Top Hat, using Cisco's method. The Masthead sheave on mine was fine with 10mm Dyneema, although I had now way of knowing until I tried it. When the mast came out two years later, the rigger confirmed that most later model Top Hats had sheaves suitable for up to 10mm braid. The actual sewing of the new line to the old line took longer than pulling it through and attaching a shackle with a bowline!
Sew the new line to the rope end of the old halyard, grab the wire end and pull until you have the Dyneema in your hand. Easy.
Thanks Cisco,
Seems my Mk 1 Top Hat may need new SHEAVES but stonedpirates Mk 2, or was it a 3, should be OK!
