jib halyard replacement

Looked through the threads and didnt find this topic (doesnt mean it wasnt there). I need to replace my jib halyard and have the new halyard ready to go. The question concerns whether you can attach the new one to the old one and thus not go aloft. The halyard only comes down a certain amount to the bow - meaning that you could not pull the halyard out from standing on the bow. My concern is that if I tie the bitter end of the new halyard to the wire end of the old halyard i will not be able to get the rope through the opening and over the sheave at the top of the mast. Any suggestions?

Additionally, my spinnaker sheave (block) broke at the masthead and I need to replace that as well - any pointers? Is it really just a block?

Jeff

Are you replacing with all rope?
If not and you are using a new rope to wire halyard , cut off the off eye splice on the old wire and do a long tape splice old wire to new rope and pull through from aft.
For all rope new halyard;
You dont tie them together , you do a tape splice on the bitter end (rope to rope) and pull through from the bow . A knot will not clear the sheeve at the top of the mast , nor will a shackle or eye splice and thimble in wire.

It is just a block for the spin halyard.

Mike,
The old wire to new bitter end was my plan. I just didnt want to set i up only to have the rope not fit through the opening going from outside to inside the new mast. The reason I questioned this was my inability to pull the halyard through from the front (leading me to believe the rope didnt fit through the opening).
Jeff

Some thougths. Why don't your replace the whole wire rope in its entirety? I don't think wirerope costs that much and think you would avoid potential problems by having a single line. I don't know how old the old halyard is, but if it is an original, it probably should be replaced anyway.

The masthead spinnaker block is just a block (assuming you mean the rope block. But you should replace it with the right size, or it might get fouled up with the jib halyard.