You are almost right.

The usual method is to pass the rope through the wire eye,  and form an eye splice in the rope,  so you have two permanent interlocking eyes.

The difficulty with that is that if you are using braided rope,  including most dyneema ropes,  splicing it is totally different from splicing three-strand (which is fairly easy),  and from my personal point of view it is not in my skill set.    However I understand that it is in fact also fairly easy;   but you do need the specialist splicing needle,  in the correct size for the rope you are using  –  each splicing needle is suitable for only one size of rope.

A simple alternative for those of use who do not have the necessary kit,  and have never learned to splice braided rope,  is indeed a good tight seizing;    preferably a racking seizing (figure-of-eight in section,  going almost fully round each part of the rope in turn),  with perhaps a simple seizing on top.

One problem,  though,  with any form of seizing is that the exposed end of the rope can drift outwards,  and create problems in pulling the rope through a fairlead or a hole or a sheave.   If that is an issue,  a short piece of heat-shrink tubing may be the answer.

Hope this helps,

Oliver

Hello Steve

I agree with Oliver that twisted rope, cheap and easy to splice, is often used, the load hardly justifies high spec braided though it’s a good idea to keep checking for wear.  I also am particular about ensuring that the line loop is not trapped between the hook of the tensioning system and the halyard loop, which can cause damage.

Regards, Norman

Just a thought;  you said that you were taking the halliard to a mast pulley rather than Highfield.

I am not entirely clear about your present arrangement,  and indeed a number of different arrangements are possible,  some of them very different.   But if your wire halliard terminates in a wire loop and you then have rope looped through that,  which is the usual modern method,   it is essential that the rope is used only for hauling,  and not for transmitting the full rig tension.   It absolutely must be the wire loop and not the rope which is hooked over (or otherwise secured to) whatever system you have for tensioning the rig.   And,  as Norman rightly says,  ensure that the rope is not trapped between the wire eye and whatever fitting it is secured to;   get it well out of the way,  every time.

However if you make fast your halliard to a cleat to take the full load,    as would be entirely consistent with the date of your boat,   then you can’t use this sort of wire-plus-rope halliard,  and the simplest (and probably cheapest) alternative is all-rope.   Dyneema or Spectra is virtually non-stretch and is eminently suitable,  but “in the old days”  –  contemporary with the build of your boat  –  a great many of us routinely used just pre-stretched terylene (polyester,  in modern parlance),  and the stretch of even that was not a major issue.

Oliver