Ronin came with a 4mm Marlow Excel Racing halyard and I stripped the outer off the part between the kite head to just short of the cleat when hoisted. Thus saving windage and weight high up whilst keeping grippy outer for Roz to hoist. The stripped core does look 2mm ish but provided there is nothing for it to chafe on or any dodgy or mis-aligned blocks for it to jump the sheath of it appears and has proven fine.
We frequently, pre rigging, pull down the halyard tail with a piece of carpet to pull any twists out. As you get towards the end you can see any twists spinning out of the tail.
RS800s (inc us) similarly mostly use part stripped 5mm Excel Racing. However as our 800's kite system is easier than the Cherub we might change that to part stripped 4mm next year if I can sneak it past Roz!
I understand that a kite halyard is less likely to snag/twist if;
- it has no outer / is stripped
- is a smaller diameter
- is newer
- there are less blocks/corners to go around
So Antedote's halyard may be less likely to snag than Ronin's, but the flipside is pulling the smaller slipperier string as fast.....
Will/Lucy- I presume your holt proline is like (a type of) D12? If you are only putting extra string inside it to help it cleat why no put it on the outside; the load bearing inner will never chafe first and you could periodically change the short outer section allowing your halyard to potentially last a very long time?
(Note; different string type / manufacturers diameters vary, I think the 4mm holt proline is considerably thinner (like 3mm?) than the Marlow 4mm Excel Racing (b4 stripping).
