One thing I discovered yesterday was that with the lower part of the halyard covered with the heavy Tenex and the aloft part bare Amsteel, there is a strong tendency for the thing to go shooting up the mast by itself. Lucky I did not discover this "the hard way". On my spinnaker halyard, I only covered the part that goes around the winch and cleat, With the Halyard in the storage position, that extra weight tends to be such that the halyard has a not as strong tendency to pull the tail end up as as that can be permanently tied off it never goes up the mast. I am going to leave my main halyard attached to the sail at all times and pull it away with shock cord or a sail tie or something so the wind doesn't beat the mast up. Clearly there is a tradeoff here. Easier on the hands if it is completely covered, but for something that goes on and off a sail, it will go up the mast occasionally I am sure. My spinnaker halyard was 1/4 inch Amsteel covered with the cover from 7/16 Samson LS. It works fine.
Finally, you need to cover any part that goes through a winch, cleat, or clutch. It is very slippery. Check out LFS Marine and Defender.com for good prices on Amsteel.
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