Hello Nonsuch people,
I’m looking at a new halyard for my NS30 using the Barient 26 self tailing winch. Looking at dynema type core I can go smaller. My question is has anyone used 8mm Samson MLX3 rope which translates towards 5/16 or do I need to go up to 10mm which is a big 3/8 looking closer to 7/16
Thank you.
David Godfrey
NS30 Thursdays Child
RNSYS Halifax Canada.
If you are worried about clutches and/or self-tailing winches slipping, both my local West Marine and the sailboat supply store that sells to professional riggers will give a free 12" sample to take back and test on your boat. It seems like the kind of thing that most such stores would do.
David,
My $0.02 for what it’s worth…
What’s needed when replacing line with smaller higher tech alternatives is to consider two factors. It’s important to be matching or exceeding the breaking strength of the original line. At the same time, it’s also important to avoid going so small that the new line is hard to grip with your hands and/or slips out of your winches self-tailer.
The halyard on N30s is specified as 7/16ths inch. Since dacron was king back when the manuals were written, I like to use New England Sta-Set X as the standard. The tensile strength of that 7/16ths (11 mm) line is listed on their web site as 7700 lbs. Thus, I’d suggest looking for the smallest dyneema core line with the same or greater tensile strength.
You can easily find 5/16ths (8 mm) dyneema core line with a greater tensile strength, so you’re ok on that front.
The deciding questions are personal, though. How big are your hands, and how strong is your grip? Will your Barient 26 grip 5/16ths line? 5/16ths tends to be the lower bound on self-tailers and it’s important to keep in mind that line diameters shrink as tension builds on the line.
– Bob
Me Gusta
Nonsuch e26U #233
I agree with the prior responses. When you go to a smaller line you will often find you need an extra turn or two around the winch drum to get the jaws of the self trailer to hold. My hands are a bit stiff and I would find 5/16” too small for hoisting the sail on a 30. I would have to use the winch for the entire hoist. I can used 5/16” for the reef lines and choker because the distance I have to pull is much shorter and the load is light until the very end.
I could not find any specs for the winch as to what size of line the jaws can handle so a short test piece of line would be a good idea. You might need more than 12” of line to do a proper test.
Mark Powers
After buying my 30’ Classic last year, I replaced the 7/16" halyard with 3/8" New England Ropes’ Stay Set (Not Stay-Set X- it is stronger, but stiff and I find it doesn’t run through leads smoothly). This was as part of a “program” to reduce the effort to raise the sail (I have standard slide on track). That included increasing the size of the turning block, replacing the upper slides with bronze (stainless on stainless binds something awful), and UHMW Polyethylene (low friction) tape on the forward end of the cabin top where it rubbed. I can now raise the main without the electric winch. I have no problems with the self-tailing jaws on the winch with the reduced size. Do note that I don’t use the clutch. If you need the clutch, you’ll have to either modify or replace it for the reduced diameter. I also found the masthead sheave was worn, and am replacing that this spring with one that has bearings. And I’ll replace some more slides. As far as the strength goes… as was pointed out, you want to take into account the breaking strength of the original line spec, but I wouldn’t take it as a “meet or exceed” because the recommendation accounts for line strength reduction over the expected lifespan and that’s improved greatly in the last 40 years. Focus more on the “working load”. I would stay away from UHMW Polyethylene (Dyneema) except as a core in double-braided since it is very slippery and you’ll find it unpredictable on the winch and even the cleat.
Dan Weinstein
Look Farther, 30C 205
East Greenwich, RI