Replacing a Halyard

[c130king]

Fellow Mac Sailors,

My halyard is just about shot so I got a new one. I can lower the mast and get it through the pulley at the top of the mast with no problem.

However...

Since I am currently in a slip I was wondering if the following technique would work.

1) Cut the current halyard just above the main sail top so that I have a nice clean cut on the old halyard.

2) Get a nice clean end on the new halyard.

3) Get both ends nice and melty (is that a word?) and "fuse" the two ends together.

4) Then pull the new halyard up and through the pulley by pulling down on the old halyard.

5) Once the new halyard is up and through the top pulley disconnect from the old halyard. Attach to the sail and run through all the low pulleys/blocks for leading to the cockpit.

Will this work? Anyone ever done this? Seems reasonable and it keeps me from lowering the mast in the slip or pulling the boat out of the water.

And if it fails then I lower the mast in the slip or pull the boat out of the water.

Thanks,
Jim

[DLT]

Its a whole lot easier to just tape the ends together...

I suggest unrolling about a 2" length of ducktape and laying the two lines end to end lengthwise one the tape, and then rolling it up, lengthwise... picture a butt splice...

On edit: I meant to say 2 foot length of tape. I'd use ducktape, or some other wide tape...

[Catigale]

I bet you could just butt them up end-to-end and then tape them up with electrical tape and pull off the same trick without using fire and brimstone..

[Moe]

I'd cut and seal the ends as normal, then sew them butted together with some sail thread. Shouldn't take but a few loops and is less messy than tape adhesive.

[c130king]

Wow! That's what I call a fast response.

Moe, the guy at WM that sold me the new line recommended the same thing. But I don't have any needles or stitching line. I think I will try the melting and back it up with tape. Should be pretty simple.

And like I said, if it fails I have a back up plan.

Thanks again guys,
Jim

[Bawgy]

Just wrap the lines with about 4 foot of thread and tie off the ends No sewing needed Just to be safe you could take a piece of kite twine tie it to the halyard pull it through and then tie it to the new halyard and pull it through .

[Catigale]

....or send up a thinner messenger line like twine, run that through the block, then use that to pull the new halyard through the block...

Voila!!

[Bawgy]

OK Caigale They say great minds think alike You must be slipping down the totem pole to have the same idea as mine

[Catigale]

If we are sharing ideas, I feel your pain..



Dr backwards Clutch and two new halyards....

[c130king]

And the winner of the "How to install a new halyard without lowering the mast" sweepstakes is....

Stephen.

As you said the "fire and brimstone" method did not work. I could not get the two lines "melty" enough to stick together.

So I used about 8" of duct tape and taped them together. Had a little difficulty getting the taped up part to go through the pulley. But with a big tug it worked.

Thanks for that idea.

So the new halyard is up and running. The new line is "softer" so it seems much easier to use and especially to tie off.

I also was able to get my cockpit cleats reattached with bolts/nuts. Bought a 6" cleat to replace the one 4" cleat but the holes don't line up so I reinstalled the 4". Can't get much line wrapped around it but it works okay otherwise. Some day I will drill a new hole...probably when I get a drill (or borrow my Dad's)...and put in the 6" so that all four are the same size. The little one gets envious of his bigger brothers.

Now if I can just get the steering fixed I will be back in business. I had big plans for my first "overnight" trip this weekend but looks like it isn't to be.

Jim