I think this may be one of those "racer vs. cruiser" things. The Sta-Set is not as stiff, true, but 3/8 Sta-set has better "hand" and better wear resistance than 5/16 Sta-Set x, T-900, etc. On my boat, I still have only 2 external halyards. I had a local rigger make me up a spliced wire/Sta-Set 3/8 main Halyard. My original mast head sheaves were in good shape, so I left them. When the main is up, I have wire down to just above the turning block on the deck, then Sta-Set for the remainder through the deck organizer and the Cam-Block on the cabin top, just forward of the winch(maybe 8-10 ft of Sta-Set under tension). The downside of wire halyards is that you can't use the fancy-shmancy roller bearing sheaves at the masthead, as the steel wire will eat through the anodized aluminum sheave in no time flat. My solution was the cheapest option I looked at, will last a long time, and gives me reasonable overall halyard stretch control. For my Jib halyard, I have a CDI furler with an internal halyard, so the Jib Halyard is there primarily as a spare, or if I (God Forbid) have to haul somebody in on the Lifesling, so stretch is not much of a consideration. If I get to the point where I am competitively racing this boat, I will go internal exotic all rope halyards (4x), lose the CDI, get the nice sheaves, etc.
Keith Sneddon -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of tim ford Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 10:53 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: catalina27-talk: Main halyard replacement Agree. 5/16th is the way to go and you'll get much better performance with Sta-Set-X then with Sta-Set, as it has much higher stretch resistance....Sta-Set is like bungy-cord...Sta-Set X is almost as good as T-900 (well, not really but it's so much cheaper) tf Mark Tamblyn wrote: > > I think you will be happier with 5/16 I'm pretty sure that is what I used. > This e-mail and any files transmitted with it may be proprietary and are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender. Please note that any views or opinions presented in this e-mail are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of ITT Corporation. The recipient should check this e-mail and any attachments for the presence of viruses. ITT accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this e-mail.
