replacing main halyard and running it aft...how long?

[RichMason]

I'm ordering a bunch of stuff so I can launch and use my boat while I am home in a few weeks. I am installing a Dwyer halyard organizing plate and replacing the main halyard, which is toast. I'm going to go with sta-set X in 5/16 or 3/8 (based on other posts I have read). My question is how long should it be to replace the original with enough line to run back to the cockpit. I don't mind buying extra a trimming but I definately don't want too short. Does anyone know this dimension for a 1979 CD 28?

Thanks,
Rich

[John Martin]

Hi Rich,

Measure the mast height, double it, then add about 10 feet. It should come out to about 80 to 85 feet. I would recommend Sta-Set X in 3/8". If you go up in technology to something like T-900 (much less stretch), then use 5/16".

John

[SeaBelle]

Give yourself a couple or 5 extra feet. Over the season you may get some wear where the halyard rests at the sheave. The following season you can cut a foot (12", not the sail's foot) off the head end to establish a fresh resting spot. This is made easier if you use a knot rather than a splice at the shackle.

[Carter Brey]

Another good reason to use a knot, rather than a splice, is that you can swap ends after a few seasons.

A buntline hitch is great for that purpose.

Have fun,
Carter

[John Martin]

Mr Carter Brey,

The Buntline Hitch is one of my favorite knots. It is not a well known knot by todays standards, most people would tie a bowline. I teach knot tying for a few of the local sailing clubs. It is a knot I teach as one of the 10 must know knots. We shall have to meet some day, over a beer.

John

[Carter Brey]

Mr Carter Brey,

The Buntline Hitch is one of my favorite knots. It is not a well known knot by todays standards, most people would tie a bowline. I teach knot tying for a few of the local sailing clubs. It is a knot I teach as one of the 10 must know knots. We shall have to meet some day, over a beer.

John

John, I find myself using the buntline hitch more and more and the bowline less and less-- not just for halyards but for any other application requiring a compact hitch that doesn't need to come undone immediately. Rigging up a vang or a mainsheet where the line terminates at a becket, for example, or terminating my reefing lines to padeyes on the boom.

It can be a PIA to undo after a season of use.

Beer sounds good! Twist my arm!

Carter

[SeaBelle]

Ah the buntline hitch, I should have mentioned it for completeness. Here's how it's tied. For a season-long application it's a good idea to sew the bitter end for added security - a season of flogging can shake even the best of knots loose.

[RMeigel]

I defer to the experience of active users, but observe that the difference between a knot and a hitch is that a knot is a line tied to itself, whereas a hitch is a line tied to an object. Hitches (sp?) require tension to assure that they do not come undone, whereas a knot does not.

[Neil Gordon]

It is a knot I teach as one of the 10 must know knots.

And the other nine?

[John Martin]

My 10 important knots to know:

1. Bowline
2. Figure Eight
3. Square Knot
4. Tiller Hitch (this is a knot I developed)
5. Rolling Hitch (Taunt-line Hitch)
6. Sheet Bend
7. Whipping (American Whipping)
8. Coil a Line
9. Cleat Hitch
10. Buntline Hitch

Now, I know what you are going to say. What about ______ ? Yes, there are many other very fine knots. Just look in any good book on sailing, boating, or knot tying. The prudent new sailor should learn the knots in their basic sailing book.

I consider my 10 knots as foundation knots. For example, if you STUDY the square knot, you should encounter the Granny knot, the Thief knot, the Sheet bend, the Carrick bend, just to name a few.

This has all come about over 40+ years of tying, teaching and studying knots. I will also teach other knots for specific applications.

Hope this helps,

John

[Carter Brey]

John,

That's a good list, although I'm puzzled by something. There are some differences in nomenclature I'd like to have clarified, since you have many decades of experience teaching and I am an amateur but more-than-casual devotee of knots, bends and hitches.

You put "tau[n]t line hitch" in parentheses after "rolling hitch," as if they were the same thing. What I call a Taut Line Hitch is also known as a Trucker's Hitch. I use it a lot for tying down things under tension, like tarps, or replacing a shroud temporarily with a halyard. It forms what is essentially a three-part purchase for adjusting a load on the line.

What I call a Rolling Hitch is a modified clove hitch which is used to put tension on a line or object from an extreme angle-- I use that one a lot, too, to tie off a tiller while heaving to or to relieve the strain from a winch override. Not, of course, that my pristine technique results in many winch overrides ... I'm curious to know what your "tiller hitch" is.

Cheers,
Carter

[SeaBelle]

While some may see this as a hitch, I see it as an interesting bend.

[marilou]

see below

[marilou]

The splice is stronger than the knot. You can always go back to the knot.

[John Martin]

Carter,

The Taunt line Hitch and the Rolling Hitch both have the same structure. If you can tie one, you should be able to tie the other.

Just as you described above, the Taunt line Hitch can be used to take up strain for an overridden winch. Also, to adjust awning support lines. The Taunt line Hitch should take strain in the same direction as the load.

I know the Trucker Hitch as another knot tied in a bight, to form a loop, allowing 2:1 purchase.

The Rolling Hitch (or Midshipman Hitch) is tied 90 degrees to the load. For example, tie a fender to a life line. The Rolling Hitch is kin to the Clove Hitch, but providing more friction, and less likely to un-tie.

Ah, the Tiller Hitch. Many of my pervious boats have tillers. I wanted a knot/hitch to secure the tiller side to side. I know some have used a Clove Hitch. I have found more than one tiller-end sawed off due to a loose tied Clove Hitch. I found in The Ashley Book of KNOTS, on page 39, figure 200, the Scaffold Hitch. Tied on a tiller end, it provides opposite pulling directions, and it is tied in a bight. Thus you may use any exsisting line in the cockpit, such as the mainsheet, to secure the tiller. To make an emergency bosun seat, use a plank or hatch board, fashion a Scaffold Hitch on both ends of the plank, tie the ends together, and attach to halyard. I used this arrangement to go up the mast to make a repair just before a race.

My Tiller Hitch is tied around a tiller, not a plank.

If you do not have access to Ashley's, I will try to do some photo's.

Hope this helps,

John