| Title: | SAILING |
| Notice: | Please read Note 2.* before participating in this conference |
| Moderator: | UNIFIX::BERENS |
| Created: | Wed Jul 01 1992 |
| Last Modified: | Mon Jun 02 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 2299 |
| Total number of notes: | 20724 |
I have a question regarding the proper way to utilze winch with a
wire/rope halyard. I have heard two opposing theories, both of which
come from experienced sources. After having asked several other
sailors, I am still uncertain which is better.
First the question:
When a halyard is raised such that the wire/rope splice wraps on the
drum of the winch, should any of the rope be left on the drum? The two
opposing theories that I have heard are
1. Only leave the wire on the winch. By leaving the spliced part on
the drum, you will crush the rope fibres and substantially weaken the
splice. This will of course shorten the life of the halyard.
2. The winch was designed to handle rope and not wire. The wire will
severely damage the drum of the winch after repeated use, and will thus
shorten its life. Since wire is so thin compared to rope, add
additional turns around the winch so that the rope always maintains
contact with the drum.
Both of these seem plausible, but I'm not sure which to believe.
Any comments?
Jim
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1910.1 | All or Nothing | WBC::RODENHISER | Tue Aug 18 1992 00:20 | 18 | |
There's no perfect answer. Some winches can take wire and/or rope,
others can't. Winches intended for halyard duty are usually designed
for wire. Self tailing winches wouldn't be. Sometimes you might have
several halyards run to a single winch using cam cleats, clutches or
stoppers. Here you can't run the wire all the way to the winch.
The splice must stop short of the winch or go all the way past it.
John Rousmaniere (The Annapolis Book of Seamanship) prefers the latter:
"The weakest part of a wire halyard is the wire-to-rope splice, which
can reduce strength by more than 10 percent. The splice itself should
carry as small a load as possible. The best way to guarantee this is to
wrap at least six turns of wire around the halyard winch, leaving the
splice between the winch and the cleat, so the winch and not the splice
absorbs any shock loads. Since jibs have different length luffs, to
meet this requirement you may have to rig wire pendants from their
heads to the optimum position for the halyard shackle."
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| 1910.2 | all rope? | UNIFIX::BERENS | Alan Berens | Wed Aug 19 1992 16:43 | 6 |
re .0: You don't say what type of sailing you do, but have you considered changing to all rope halyards? Some ropes are very low stretch. With them there is no need to worry about damaging winch drums or, worse, your hands. | |||||
| 1910.3 | thanks | WR2FOR::BOLTONJA | Wed Aug 19 1992 18:45 | 13 | |
re..1
Thanks for the input. I should have thought about consulting
the ABOS.
re .2
I could utilize all rope halyards, however, I don't have an immediate
need to replace the two jib halyards. The spinnaker halyard is already
all rope. I'll keep the suggestion in mind for the future.
change what I currently have.
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| 1910.4 | More money than brains | WBC::RODENHISER | Wed Aug 19 1992 18:49 | 5 | |
I checked this in a couple of other books too. Would you believe
that on some high_roller racing boats with aluminum winches it is
common to use wire on the drums and simply replace them regularly?
More money than I've got!
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