Jay,
You really don't want to bulk the over over the outside. It will jam up entering the clutch. You need to insert line into the middle of the halyard to "bulk" it up. Try pulling 3/16" amsteel/dyneema into the core.
Also for the clutch to work best, bulk up to the max line diameter for the clutch rating. At the bottom end of the range, the rope will almost always slip.
Interesting you said that Mike. I was just thinking the same thing (bulking up the core vs. the cover).
My current 3/8" has the extra cover tapered over 40 cm or so which makes it gradual increase in thickness.
But I do have some Amsteel (maybe even 3/16") I could jam in the core and taper a bit.
I will say that core on the Sta-Set X is rather sticky when trying to extract through the cover. I can't remember what blend of fibers they are using (gold and white) but it took a while to get my shackle eye spliced up.
Course, I may try that rope shackle doo-dad, but would that be recommended for a mainsail halyard shackle?
