Rope length
How long should a halyard, sheet or mooring line be? Below you can find some rule of thumb for rope lengths on board of your boat. These are generic guidelines and no rights can be derived from this. Make sure to crosscheck these values with the specific situation on board of your ship. The best way to figure out what length your halyards, sheets and control lines should be, is to measure the old ropes before you replace them.
Check out our selection of sheets, halyards and mooring ropes.
Halyards
These are our guidelines for the length of halyards:
| Main halyard | Mast length x 2.5 |
| Genoa/ Yankee halyard | Mast length x 2.5 For fractional rig: mast length x 2 |
| Spinnaker/ Gennaker halyard | Mast length x 2.5 |
| Toppinglift | Mast length x 2.5 For fractional rig: mast length x 2 |
Sheets
These are our guidelines for the length of sailing sheets:
| Main sheet | Boom length x (purchase +1) |
| Genoa sheet | Boat length x 1-1.5 |
| Yankee sheet | Boat length x 1.5-2 |
| Spinnaker guy / tackline | Boat length x 1.5-2 |
| Spinnaker / Gennaker sheet | Boat length x 2-2.5 |
Control lines
These are our guidelines for control lines for sailing boats:
| Outhaul | Boom length x 2 |
| Boom vang | Boom length x 2 |
| Cunningham | Boom length x 1 |
| Genoa lead | Rail length x (purchase +1) |
| Traveller | Rail length x (purchase +1) |
| Spi pole lift | Mast length x 2 |
| Spi pole down | Boat length x 1.5 |
| Reefing lines - reef 1 | Boom length x 2.5 |
| Reefing lines - reef 2 | Boom length x 3 |
| Furlerline headsail | Boat length + length of the foot |
| Preventer | Boat length x 1.5 |
| Towing line | Minimal boat length x 5 |
Mooring lines and anchor rode
For mooring lines we advise to take one-and-a-half times the boat length. Of course, this also depends on your personal preference. Often you would have at least two mooring lines of one-and-a-half times the boat length and two mooring lines of one boat length on board. For your home marina, we often splice the mooring lines customized to the dimensions of the berth. You can protect these mooring lines with a chafing cover or a stainless steel thimble at critical points.
| Mooring line | Boat length x 1.5 |
| Anchor rode | Maximum water depth x 5 |
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