• Untitled Document

    Join us on March 29rd, 7pm EST

    for the CBEC Virtual Meeting

    All EYO members and followers are welcome to join the fun and get to know the guest speaker!

    See the link below for login credentials and join us!

    March Meeting Info

    (dismiss this notice by hitting 'X', upper right)

Adding back-up halyard on E32-3

nquigley

Sustaining Member
I would like to have a spare (emergency) mainsail halyard, that could also be used for going up the mast if the primary halyard is jammed or lost.
But, there's no spare sheeve up there.
I've attached 3 pics - is there anything wrong with this plan:
> loop a sturdy oval ss screwlock through the big cutout hole in the aft part of the masthead
> hang a sturdy block (that has a shackle pin that can be wired closed) from that oval (use lock-tight on the screwlock and orient it with the screwlock up and the straight section down, with the block hanging from that section)
> run a lightweight tracer line from the gooseneck, through the block and back to the gooseneck, ready to run up a real halyard when needed.

What am I missing?
Would I be better to try to hang a block from the toping lift or backstay clevis pin?

Thanks!
 

Attachments

  • 1 IMG_9878.jpg
    1 IMG_9878.jpg
    98.6 KB · Views: 17
  • 2 IMG_9879.jpg
    2 IMG_9879.jpg
    46.3 KB · Views: 13
  • 3 IMG_9880.JPG
    3 IMG_9880.JPG
    37.4 KB · Views: 13

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Most of your sister ships already have three halyards, I seem to recall. Main, Jib, and a Spinnaker halyard for a flying sail.
As for backing up the Main, these can (rarely) "sky" and then someone has to be hoisted on another halyard to fetch it.
Unrequested opinion: if you check the present halyard for chafe every year or so, I seriously doubt that you would ever need a backup.

And, has your particular boat been modernized with all-line halyards? I sort of presume that the old wire-to-rope ones are long retired.

Also, your pix seem to show carabiners at the masthead. If so, I would never advise using one up there.

Sorry to be distracted from the original question.
 
Last edited:

Kenneth K

1985 32-3, Puget Sound
Blogs Author
Your 32-3 should have 4 masthead sheaves. One exits aft for the main and three exit forward for a jib + 2 spinnaker halyards.

What's wrong with using one of the 3 headsail halyards?
 

nquigley

Sustaining Member
Most of your sister ships already have three halyards, I seem to recall. Main, Jib, and a Spinnaker halyard for a flying sail.
As for backing up the Main, these can (rarely) "sky" and then someone has to be hoisted on another halyard to fetch it.
Unrequested opinion: if you check the present halyard for chafe every year or so, I seriously doubt that you would ever need a backup.
And, has your particular boat been modernized with all-line halyards? I sort of presume that the old wire-to-rope ones are long retired.
Also, your pix seem to show carabiners at the masthead. If so, I would never advise using one up there.
Sorry to be distracted from the original question.
Hi Loren,
I'm setting the boat up for (eventual) offshore passages.
I do have 3 all-rope halyards - the ones you mentioned. But the jib halyard's in use with the roller-furler and the spin halyard can't (or course) be used as a backup main halyard - if it parts or gets sky'd. I sail solo, so I'd rather not climb if I don't have to in unpleasant conditions. Also, when I climb, I always want another halyard as a safety backup line.

Don't worry 'bout the 'beeners. They're supplemental to my climbing kit. The one that says "not for climbing" was just holding my work bag (it's since been changed to a life-rated carabiner to avoid confusion). The non-locking 'beener on the backside carries my etrier, which lets me climb high enough to get my chest level with the masthead for fixing stuff on top. You can't get high enough for that work just climbing on the halyard.
I'll be removing my backstay next weekend (to send it in for replacement), and I want to use the main halyard as the temp replacement for the backstay to stabilize the mast - I'll need two free halyards for climbing (primary and safety) up to undo the backstay, and then later when I bring up the new one. I'm planning on climbing on the spin halyard and use the lighter duty 'extra' main halyard as my safety.
 
Last edited:

nquigley

Sustaining Member
Your 32-3 should have 4 masthead sheaves. One exits aft for the main and three exit forward for a jib + 2 spinnaker halyards.
What's wrong with using one of the 3 headsail halyards?

- 2 spin halyard sheaves? - I'll take another look - that would be nice (the boat only came with one reeved, and I've never thought about using a second).
Thanks!
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
- 2 spin halyard sheaves? - I'll take another look - that would be nice (the boat only came with one reeved, and I've never thought about using a second).
Thanks!

Just a guess, but you probably have the same mast head assembly as the one on my stock Kenyon spar (1988). There will be spinnaker 'wing' halyard sheaves on each side of the head stay. Jib sheave is under the stay. There will be an external SS cage (highly polished, at least it was when new) that allows those spin. halyards lead true to their sheave and also allow either one to 'cross over' after a jibe.
Note B: when you have the spar down sometime, remove the aluminum sheaves and make sure they rotate square on each axle, and give them a quick turn on a lathe to get rid of scarring from their early years with wire halyards running over them.
There are good threads here on removal and re-insertion of the sheaves... it's a bit fussy, as jobs to. (...not unusual on a boat!)
:rolleyes:
 
Last edited:

bgary

Advanced Beginner
Blogs Author
Two separate problems, IMO.

1) If you sky the main halyard, and need to get up the mast to replace it... as others have said, it's easy enough to pull someone up on a spare halyard on the front of the mast. My 32-III has 3 halyards forward - a centerline jib halyard, and a spinnaker halyard on each side of the headstay. Any of them (assuming line is in good shape) is usable for getting a person up to the masthead.

2) If you sky (or break) the main halyard at sea, and want to re-raise the main without going up the mast, that's a different set of challenges. Yes, you want another halyard that will lead (reasonably) fair for the main. NO, you do not want that halyard to be hanging from a carabiner hooked through one side of a lightening-hole in the side of the masthead. Even if the 'biner is sufficient for the load and can be securely locked, it's the lightening hole that's the problem. The carabiner will wear on the surface of the lightening hole over time, and when loaded can "tear" that hole open (I've seen it happen).

There are fittings you can bolt to your masthead to create a "crane" for hanging an external halyard. Normally used to add a spinnaker halyard, there's no reason you couldn't use one (angled in a way to provide as fair a line as possible to the mainsail head when hoisted) to run a spare main halyard.

crane.jpg

You'd need to drill-and-tap holes into your masthead to secure it, that's not a difficult project when the rig is out of the boat, and is doable even when the rig is up. But KEEP LIFE SAFETY in mind. You do not want to create a situation where a fitting can fail while someone is hanging from it.

The other approach that comes to mind - I've never used it, but have seen it done - is to use those lightening-holes in the masthead but in a way that distributes the load. Have a shop create a length of aluminum rod that fits snugly through those holes, secure it in place with pins (just as if it was any other clevis-pin at the masthead), and then hang a block from it using a sewn-webbing strop. nothing in that arrangement that can open without warning, and the loads will be distributed in a way that mitigates failure... the load from the halyard will be distributed around the outside of the rod, the load of the rod will be distributed around the bottom of BOTH lightening-holes rather than concentrated at a single point at the bottom of one of them. Bonus, you'll have an almost-perfect lead to the mainsail head.

$.02
Bruce
 
Last edited:

Kenneth K

1985 32-3, Puget Sound
Blogs Author
I'll need two free halyards for climbing (primary and safety) up to undo the backstay, and then later when I bring up the new one. I'm planning on climbing on the spin halyard and use the lighter duty 'extra' main halyard as my safety.

I went up my mast solo last summer with a climbing harness and waist- and foot-prussiks. I went up the rope side of my wire-rope main halyard, with a backup waist-prussik on the (at the time) rope side of my wire-rope jib halyard. Once I got up above the spreaders I looped a third rope around the backside of the mast with a second backup waist-prussik. So, if both halyards failed at that point, I could only fall as low as the first spreader beneath me. Painful, yes, but at least the deck would remain clean....

I stayed aloft more than an hour and got a lot of work done. My only tip is that if you stand/step on the spreaders, do it with your foot kept against the mast. I stepped a little further out and my weight pushed the spreader tip down a few degrees. It didn't bend the spreader or the bracket, but I discovered that the spreader tip is somewhat free-floating and held in place mainly by the tension of the shrouds. I just had to remember to readjust it once I lowered myself down below the spreader on the way down.

This is what you should have up top for headsail sheaves. (photo courtesy of Bruce Gary).
 

Attachments

  • masthead (2).jpg
    masthead (2).jpg
    131.6 KB · Views: 82
Last edited:

nquigley

Sustaining Member
Ken - thanks for the pic. I'll definitely run a tracer line through that extra sheave.

Bruce - I'm still thinking about a backup (emergency) main halyard - I would definitely spread the load through both holes, and it would only be a temporary solution - no longterm wear on the edges of the holes.

Thanks, everyone, for your ideas and feedback.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
My opinion is that you have enough halyards, if you can assure that they all work.

Losing a main halyard, which happened to me, seems unlikely if you have the brains to fit a screw shackle and seize it with wire to the headboard. My lack of brains failed to foresee the issues of a standard push-turn shackle, which under the constant manipulation of reefs can pop undone by mysterious forces.

More important than a second main halyard is a means of climbing the mast singlehanded. Steps are one answer, of course. My current answer is a 4:1 hoist. Both require the storm to have passed.

A mainsail that will not come down is a disaster. A mainsail that will not go up is an inconvenience.

I recently (six hours ago) returned from Rarotonga via Air NZ, , a (highly questionable) refuge in a cyclone. This yacht, which to my eye seemed well equipped, has mast steps typical of offshore passagemakers.

Ginsea RArotonga.jpg
 
Top