New Halyards; material, etc.

[Neil Gordon]

Robert,

What will it cost to splice in a shackle? A buntline hitch is free and in many ways a superior solution.

[tjr818]

Robert,

What will it cost to splice in a shackle? A buntline hitch is free and in many ways a superior solution.

Neil, you beat me to it. I was just going to suggest the Buntline hitch, that way you can swap the halyard end for end if wear starts to develop. Our halyard came with the shackle, but I when it goes we will switch to the Buntline.

[Sea Hunt Video]

Neil and Tim:

Yes, I agree. However, the buntline hitch, once "installed", is very difficult to untie, especially after being under load for any significant time.

I have been taught, right or wrong, that the main halyard should always be removed from the mainsail once on a mooring or at a dock.

Trying to remove a buntline hitch that is "locked up" might prove challenging.

Otherwise, I agree, the buntline hitch is a GREAT knot

[Neil Gordon]

Robert, tie the halyard to the shackle. For as many times as you'll need to untie the buntlines hitch, use your knife if all else fails.

[David Morton]

the main halyard should always be removed from the mainsail once on a mooring or at a dock

Not sure I've ever heard that before! I inspect my buntline knot at the head, but I don't remove the halyard until the end of the season. Not sure why you would want to. Once my mainsail is down I take the halyard at the head, pull it down a bit to loop under the winch, and then just tension the halyard enough to keep it from flapping. Have I been doing it wrong for 20 years? Wouldn't surprise me at all!

David

[tjr818]

the main halyard should always be removed from the mainsail once on a mooring or at a dock

...Once my mainsail is down I take the halyard at the head, pull it down a bit to loop under the winch, and then just tension the halyard enough to keep it from flapping. Have I been doing it wrong for 20 years? Wouldn't surprise me at all! David

Well, If you are wrong, you are certainly not alone.
Guilty. More than 30 years.

[Neil Gordon]

the main halyard should always be removed from the mainsail once on a mooring or at a dock

Not sure I've ever heard that before! I inspect my buntline knot at the head, but I don't remove the halyard until the end of the season. Not sure why you would want to. Once my mainsail is down I take the halyard at the head, pull it down a bit to loop under the winch, and then just tension the halyard enough to keep it from flapping. Have I been doing it wrong for 20 years? Wouldn't surprise me at all!

David

I do the same half the time (okay, not EXACTLY half) and the rest of the time I secure the halyard about 2/3 out the boom to take some pressure off and to backup the topping lift. (There's tension there... halyard/topping lift vs. main sheet).

I'll note that in my somewhat limited experience as a tall ship sailor, I've never seen a halyard removed from the sail (except when the sail's being taken off). There's no real reason to do so and removing it always involved some measure of risk that you lose the halyard up the mast!

[Sea Hunt Video]

I should explain.

After taking sailing lessons with a sailing school near Captiva Island, Ft. Myers, Fl. (where I have no recollection of what I did with the main halyard after each day's sail ) I then started attending Saturday "races around the can" at a local sailing school. Removing the halyard from the main and securing it to a cleat was part of the "end of sail" drill each day at the school.

I am not sure I can explain WHY we did this; I only know this is what we were taught. Being an unfortunate creature of habit, this is then what I did on S/V Tadpole and what I now do on S/V Bali Ha'i.

You method of leaving the halyard attached to the main and simply tensioning it around a mast winch makes a lot of sense. I will try it.

Neil, yes, that experience happened 2-3 (perhaps more ) times. Figuring out how to grab the now wayward main halyard always brought much laughter from other crews.

[Neil Gordon]

Robert,

>>Neil, yes, that experience happened 2-3 (perhaps more ) times. Figuring out how to grab the now wayward main halyard always brought much laughter from other crews. <<

The last time it happened on LIQUIDITY, the main halyard was just out of reach of the boat hook but retrieval was a simple matter of sending the offending crew member aloft in the bosun's chair.

[Steve Laume]

The tails of all halyards on Raven pass through their respective cleats and then receive a stopper knot. The shackle on the main halyard gets clipped to one of the stanchion bases. The staysail goes to the upper life line attachment point on the bow pulpit and the spinnaker goes to the spin bail on the mast. Once they are unclipped, they never leave my hand but I suppose there is still some risk of losing one.

I don't like the idea of the thing constantly tugging at the sail when not in use, Steve.

[barfwinkle]

I guess I am just getting old and all of the self-deprecation is just as old.

sorry and fair winds

[swhfire21]

Fabric softener works real well to restore the pliability of synthetic ropes.

I used a bunt hitch to connect the shackle to the main halyard on my TY. It was originally spliced when I bought the boat. I took the splice out because it widened the last 10 - 12 inches of the line (enough that it would jamb up between the side plates of the block at the top of the mast) which prevent the mainsail from being raised fully.

I really like the idea of running the topping lift aft of the cockpit to clear clutter in the forward end of the cockpit. Only concern would be whether or not a railing mounted cleat could take the loads I put on it. There was no traveler on my TY so I routinely used the toping lift (lead to cockpit) to oppose the mainsheet when close hauled. This allowed me to maintain enough twist in the clew to keep the entire main sail drawing. Otherwise, the top 1/3 or so of the sail would often be stalled. I guess the cleat could be deck mounted to accommodate this.

[tjr818]

The January issue of Sailing World has a nice article about "the Best Way to tie a Halyard", by Mike Ingham. Basically, he leads the halyard through the grommet at the head of the sail, ties a figure eight not in the end, and then secures it with a half hitch. Racers - trying to save weight aloft. Cruisers - saving boat units.

[Neil Gordon]

The January issue of Sailing World has a nice article about "the Best Way to tie a Halyard", by Mike Ingham. Basically, he leads the halyard through the grommet at the head of the sail, ties a figure eight not in the end, and then secures it with a half hitch. Racers - trying to save weight aloft. Cruisers - saving boat units.

My main was designed for a shackle and 1/2" line doesn't pass that easily through a 1/2" hole. Any fraying at the end and it's not going through. My last attempt was the emergency use of the bitter end of the jib halyard after the main halyard decided to go aloft by itself, without the main. I needed to cut the frayed end to get it through and it was still a tight fit.

[tjr818]

My main was designed for a shackle and 1/2" line doesn't pass that easily through a 1/2" hole.

Wow, that is tight. The headboard on our new main has a 1" diameter grommet. I think the old main had a two grommets that were at least 1".