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Running Rigging on E27

AndrewD

Junior Member
I'm replacing the running rigging on my 1977 Ericson 27' Tall mast. West Marine is having a 40% off sale on sta-set poly lines tomorrow so it seems like a good time =) Unfortunately I'm 3,000 miles away from my boat, so I could use some guidance. I've done research, but would be great if someone could vet it for me.

Mast is 34', boom is 10'. Halyards are winched and cleated onto the mast.

Main/Jib Halyard:
3/8" x 45'. It will be attached to a wire that hoists the sail, so I only need one mast length. I figure mast length plus an extra 10' or so for emergency situations (hauling someone/something from overboard). Is that overkill? I've seen some places specify 5/16", thoughts?

Mainsheet:
3/8" x 65'. This is the one I'm most unsure of. My mast is tabernacled, so I'd need to lower it. Doing some basic math, if it's 4' block to block when the boom is horizontal, It would be ~17' block to block when the mast is down and the boom is vertical. Multiply that by 4 for the 4:1 block and tackle (52') and add 10ish feet for some slop. Should this be longer?

Jibsheets:
3/8" x 40'. Boat length * 1.5

Boom Vang: 3/8" x 20'. Boom length * 2

Outhaul: 5/16" x 20'. Boom length * 2

Topping Lift:
5/16" x 20'. I'm just guessing on this one. Would 1/4" be OK? I'll probably get this one extra long just in case (it's always good to have some extra line anyway).

Seem reasonable? Thanks!
 
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toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
Are you going to splice the halyards to wire yourself or buy the pre-spliced ones? The wire may need to be shortened on those. Or go to all rope?

The topping lift length seems short, but depends on how it's rigged. Length of mast + length of boom for me. My topping lift is actually something like 3/16 or less - almost like a shoelace. But it can be hard to handle without gloves. Same for the outhaul.
Vang seems short, but again depends on how it's rigged.

Maybe buy some line to rig boom preventers? Reefing lines?

You might want to think about present or future man overboard procedures. To hoist a MOB with a Lifesling (for example) requires a block and tackle with enough line to lift from the water to several feet over the lifelines. (One block hoisted on a halyard, other block to the MOB.) That could be a dedicated piece of gear, but I figured I'd use the vang, which is 4:1 on my boat - because it's always right there. Hence extra rope on the vang. Could also use the mainsheet I suppose, if easily detached.
 

Darrel

Member I
Halyard thoughts

I was going to use rope to wire halyards but after talking to a few riggers I chose to go with all rope. Most of the new ropes are stronger then wire and have less stretch, go figure. After several conversations with riggers at west marine I went with his advice and made the move to all rope and have no regrets
 

bgary

Advanced Beginner
Blogs Author
All-rope

+1 on all-rope halyards. With modern lines, there's no reason to use wire (and add the hassle of a wire-rope splice).

I'm not a fan of Sta-Set, though. It is a polyester core (vs. some of the stronger dyneema-cored lines), and it doesn't have the best wear characteristics. There are better lines out there and, when on sale, about the same price.

I like New England's "VPC" a lot for halyards, Samson's "MLX" is also very good and reasonably priced.

$.02
 

Gary Holford

Member II
Switched my E27 to all rope and no regrets. If you go that route you should think about changing your masthead sheaves. The groove is a different configuration for ropes. Not critical but I upgraded nonetheless. Zephyrwerks can fix you up. Great service but he's in busy mode now.
 

AndrewD

Junior Member
Awesome, thanks for the advice everyone! I decided to just replace the mainsheet, outhaul and topping lift for now, since they are in pretty bad shape. Once I get everything else squared away, I'll look into switching over to an all rope halyard system.. I like the simplicity of it. I'll look into new sheaves on the mast since I'll likely be dropping it at some point anyway.

Thanks again!
 

G Kiba

Sustaining Member
Andrew,
Went to all rope halyards 12 years ago. 5/16" is plenty strong and you don't need to change the sheaves.
 

julibell

Member II
Ericson 29 running rigging replacement

Thinking about replacing sheets and halyards today at the West Marine 50% off sale - - anyone happy with New England Rope VPC - 3/8 hybrid performance braid - - it is .89 a foot today

Jib sheets with a 150 Genoa ( suggested length and diameter ) 1.5 length of boat or 45 feet in length of 3/8 or 10mm ? Agree ???

And for jib halyard 88' ????? Agree ???

Main Halyard 84 feel ????? Agree ???

Not near the boat to measure so any help out there, please.


Thanks
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Perhaps buy one (only) to take advantage of the sale. The whole idea of a sale is to make you buy stuff, and too many times it makes for a guesswork move.

Line selection is personal and depends on hand feel, clutches, self-tailing winch (old winch? smaller diameter may slip), sheaves, blocks and so on.

Genoa sheets especially relate to how easy they are to coil, how they lie, whether they kink, and how soft you like them. I like them soft.

The fact is, any line will work. Really. We obsess on this stuff.

Super-strong lines kink, resist bending, and can be very hard to splice or even tie a bowline in.

Buy a few feet off a wheel at West Marine and try it out.

There's always a sale somewhere. And paying retail for the right choice is better than a bad bargain on somebody else's advice.

Oh yeah: If you want to wing that 150 out on a whisker pole, it will require longer than standard length. Set the pole and sail and measure.

I have made more mistakes, and had more regrets, over running rigging purchases than any other stuff on boats.
 
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toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
I think those lengths would give you ample residual tails, and probably enough extra halyard length to winch objects from a dinghy or the water.

You can use 3/8 for everything on a E29 - so one of those 300-foot bulk rolls that are sometimes on sale might be the best value. Unless you want to color-code your lines. (I do use smaller stuff for reefing.)

My jib sheets have been getting a little decrepit-looking and slipping out of the jammer occasionally. Last week I reversed them end-for-end, and cut off some excess tail length. Instant rejuvenation! Well, at least they ought to last another season or two. No doubt I will soon be reminded why I bought all that excess length in the first place, but the cockpit is a little tidier now.
 

Slick470

Member III
VPC makes a good middle grade halyard. Less stretch and more strength for the size than Sta-Set. The vectran-blend core requires a core dependent splice if you want to splice in a shackle or a reeving splice. A friend has VPC halyards on his 40 footer and is very happy with them. APS uses VPC as one of their pre-spec'd halyard options.

I bought an off cut of it from APS to use as a new reef line. A bit stiff, but seems better than my current Sta-Set-X genoa halyard. Feels a bit slippery, but I haven't washed the line to remove the "assembly lube" off of it yet.
 

bgary

Advanced Beginner
Blogs Author
I like VPC a lot for halyards. I'm using 8mm (5/16") on my boat.

I prefer something with a softer "hand" for jibsheets, since I handle them a lot more. After trying a number of lines, I went with 10mm (3/8") FSE "Globe 5000". It seems (to me) like a good combination of price, performance and feel.

I have made more mistakes, and had more regrets, over running rigging purchases than any other stuff on boats.

Heh. Yeah. Now to figure out what to do with the pile of "spare" line in my garage. "don't get rid of it, I might want to use it some day" is a very slippery slope...
 
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