Spare halyard--what's the best line?

[JohnV]

It's very tempting, and undoubtedly would be a very satisfactory system. But to stay with your earlier points about cost/benefit, I'd be springing for 90-odd freet of Dyneema, in a size thick enough to grip, as a seldom-used spare, but using sta-set x with its relative stretch for the main halyard. I'd want to swap, and then I'd be back to having a fat, heavy dacron line as a spare, which I'm trying to avoid in the first place.
And 2 times 90 feet is costly and hard to justify on a heavy cruising boat. Especially when Mr. genoa halyard starts to get jealous.
And as I think about it, I'll still have the 3/8" spinnaker and staysail halyards, so maybe just a thin, cheap messenger is really the way to go.
Thanks for your ideas.
John

[allene]

Originally Posted by JohnV

It's very tempting, and undoubtedly would be a very satisfactory system. But to stay with your earlier points about cost/benefit, I'd be springing for 90-odd freet of Dyneema, in a size thick enough to grip, as a seldom-used spare, but using sta-set x with its relative stretch for the main halyard. I'd want to swap, and then I'd be back to having a fat, heavy dacron line as a spare, which I'm trying to avoid in the first place.
And 2 times 90 feet is costly and hard to justify on a heavy cruising boat. Especially when Mr. genoa halyard starts to get jealous.
And as I think about it, I'll still have the 3/8" spinnaker and staysail halyards, so maybe just a thin, cheap messenger is really the way to go.
Thanks for your ideas.
John

90 feet of 3/8 XLS = $77 => 4,400 pound strength, 3.2 inches stretch
50 feet of 3/16 Amsteel = $28
50 feet of 3/8 Tenex (use white) $20
Total $48 => 5,400 pounds strength, .82 inches stretch.

Splice http://L-36.com/halyard.php
Stretch calculator http://L-36.com/line_stretch.php

Enjoy.

Notes:
Size it so that you have a couple of turns of Amsteel on the winch with the splice below.

If you are concerned about the splice, do 90 feet of Amsteel and 50 feet of Tenex for less cost (slightly) than the XLS but much less stretch and much less weight aloft.

I did not figure out the splice before building my halyard using method 2. It works great. My next halyard will be method 1. The advantage of method 2 is that the line is about 7/16 but I find it a bit more than I need so next time I will just let the tenex be 3/8 without the Amsteel core.

But be sure to use white tenex because, like Amsteel, the colors come off on your hands.

Allen
L-36.com

[JohnV]

More good choices. This was supposed to be an easy decision...
Thanks for the ideas, Allen. I'll check out the references you gave me.
John