Internal Halyards

A halyard is the rope that raises and lowers the flag. Internal halyards are quite simply halyards that have the working part running inside the pole. External halyards run outside the pole.

Internal halyards generally have concealed access, often lockable, that makes flag theft more difficult by vandals. There is no such thing as a vandal proof flagpole, but internal halyards offer cost effective vandal resistance to varying degrees. The different methods of concealing access to the halyard determine the effectiveness of vandal resistance and how often your flagpole is used. The most effective is the flush fitting hatch cover, followed by the winch, the sliding collar, protruding cast aluminium cover and finally, the hinged door with key lock. Without doubt though, the winch is the easiest to use and because it is easy, it will be used.

Most internal halyards rely on a weighted necklace to act as a counterweight and control the bottom of the flag, although some flags with battens in them require an additional, lower halyard, to tension the flag so it flies correctly.

Another side benefit of internal halyards is lack of noise. Everyone can recognise the slapping noise of an external halyard on the side of a flagpole in strong winds. With internal halyards this noise, and the dirty rub marks associated with it, are minimised. 

In summary, an internal halyard system is probably worth the extra cost in situations where the public has access to the pole.

You don’t have to lose many flags to thieves to appreciate the benefits. The down side is that raising flags is slightly more complicated and takes a few minutes longer, than with an external halyard. 

The Halyard Winch - 
Probably the Best Internal Halyard System! 

Halyard winches have been around for years, but they have had their fair share of problems that made them an unreliable and expensive option - until now. 

Typically, halyard winches were too bulky to fit to smaller diameter poles, so not only was the winch expensive, the pole needed to be bigger and more expensive just to house the winch.

Halyard winches used by Federation Flagpoles have been extensively tested and proven to be the easiest to use, most reliable and compact winch system in use in Australia. No longer is there a need to fiddle with screws, keys, bits of rope, door hinges or cover plates. Just insert the winch handle and turn it. It is that simple!