Swallow Yachts Forum > Technical
BRe rope specifications - mainsail hoisting issues
Roger A:
A quick question please. I'm in the process of replacing some halyards and sheets on my BRe.
Does anyone know the recommended rope diameters for the following, mine are worn and difficult to measure.
Main Halyard (Bermuda fully battened)
Jib Halyard
Jib Sheets
Thanks
Roger
Sea Simon:
Sorry, can't recall rope Ds.
But I do recall
1. Upgrade to Dynema for both halyards. Makes a big difference to the ability to flatten, and keep flat, the furling jib in strong winds, and maintains rig tension. My original halyards, and shroud-end lacings seemed to be elastic!
A dyneema main halyard ensures that the cunningham remains effective in high winds.
2. Buy a longer main halyard than you think you need, as that horrible sharp, angry little block at the mast head cuts the main halyard. The sharp alloy sail headboard doesn't help.
You can then shorten off the damaged mast top end as needed, and make the rope run last longer.
I brought just enough the first time, and soon regretted it.
3. I found Rooster "Polilite sheets" to be effective on the jib. They don't self-tangle like cheap braid on braid, but are not too expensive.
You may have your own preference?
Graham W:
This will probably derail Roger’s original question while we wait for Moses to come down the mountain with a definitive answer on BRe diameters.
I tried Dyneema halyards on my old-style gunter-rigged BR20 when the material was first broadly commercialised. The idea being that the string was lighter and being strong could also be used at smaller diameters.
Maybe Dyneema and its variants have improved since those early days (heat treating? Pre-stretching?) but I had a real problem with it. My halyards (jib and main) suffered from Dyneema creep, where the fibres gradually elongate to their final permanent resting position. Many think that Dyneema doesn't stretch, which is true, but are then puzzled when it elongates. I've experienced it a few times. including on my shroud strops. It was so bad on my two halyards that I went back to good old stretchy polyester, which doesn’t seem to stretch much at all but acts as a bit of a shock absorber under tension.
The other issue that I had with smaller diameter Dyneema (6mm instead of the standard 8mm polyester) was that it was really hard on the hands.
Ape Ears:
Size of rope determined by fittings on boat. Do you have horned cleats, spinlock or Barton fittings to make fast main halyard ?
Self tacking or conventional jib ? Again diameter of fairleads , clamcleats or spinlocks ?
Alloy or plastic head board. Bottom hole on headboard used to align halyard with sheave. See attached photo of current fitting.
Mast track needs to be well lubricated. Suggest Sailkote Drylube. Sorry for abbreviation. Last attempted post seemed to be blocked by spam filter as we are still up a mountain abroad !
Sea Simon:
I find Camcleat power grip cleats are excellent for sweating up smaller D, hard ropes like the BRe main halyard. No need to winch!
You can occasionally find them as low as £8. If you are like me, I suggest buying two!
https://www.clamcleat.com/power-grip-1.html
Eg, my current boat's cunningham. With a cascade added, this tool means that I don't need to winch the 6mm dyneema control line thru the spin lock clutch, I can now just pull...
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