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Getting Inside the Boom to Fix Topping Lift / Or Ditch it for a Solid Vang?

Roger Janeway

Member II
I have read a number of old threads and see that many are happy they replaced their topping lift with a rigid vang. I am considering that because of a problem that recently arose with the boom-internal hardware for my topping lift. (This post overlaps with a comment I just posted to Christian's blog entry about replacing his wire topping lift with Spectra line, but I'm not sure if people treat comments to blog entries the same way they treat these pleas for help on the main forums, so I am posting here too.)

I would love to know whether anyone understands the internal hardware for the topping lift on a Kenyon E section boom of a mid-1980's Ericson. (I do not know how much it matters that my boat is small, the boom is only 11', and no mechanical advantage is needed to use the topping lift.) I have the plastic-encased wire descending from a fixed point at the top of the mast through the back of the boom, where in the dark somewhere it probably connects to a small block, which can be moved forward or aft by adjusting a line that emerges from a starboard side slot in the boom near the gooseneck. The line appears to go around this block and then back to some point at the front of the boom (inside).

My control line is too short which creates some difficulties, but replacing it completely is scary since I do not know how to access the block or the place where it attaches to the forward part of the boom. Anyway, while that affects possible solutions, it isn't the cause of the problem.

Recently a strange jam arose so that I can tighten the topping lift but not release it. The sheave at the back end of the boom runs smoothly, so I think the block inside the boom has some problem. I can't sail with the topping lift in this position as the sail doesn't set right.

Have owners with similar topping lifts simply lived with them without trouble? Has anyone figured out how to fix problems with blocks inside the boom?

And have any small boat owners (Ericson 26ers?) replaced their topping lift with a rigid vang? Suggestions?

Thank you.
 

Afrakes

Sustaining Member
Fix not complicated. However

Getting at the components which need repair may be. First try removing the fasteners holding the end fittings on the boom. If they don't move, spring for the vang.
 

Glenn McCarthy

Glenn McCarthy
We went with Garhaurer rigid vang. Love it. Only their directions say to mount the piece to the mast as low as possible. We did. Big mistake. The bottom two bolts go through the mast and into the deck casting. Now you can't pull the mast without taking out the two bottom bolts of the mast piece.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Ken's link above contains much discussion.

Working on the boom internal TL and reef lines is not hard, but two people make it easier.

--Use the halyard to support the weight of the boom and furled sail. Fix it to the boom at balance point.

--Remove boom end caps with boom suspended. Leave gooseneck attached to mast.

--With the gooseneck detached you can see, and touch, the pin which holds internal blocks, and you can see the path of the lines as they enter the gooseneck sheeves. Note how they run, over or under the pin, for reassembly.

--If there's a mess in there, you can remove the pin, tie a messenger to the blocks, and pull the whole business out the aft end of the boom. Internal jams then become obvious and can be sorted out.

(this step is necessary to change an Ericson factory topping lift, which probably has a wire bridle that won't run through blocks. On my replaced TL, the new bridle is Spectra, not wire).

--The outhaul purchase can cause problems, too. I once discovered the cheeks of two blocks, topping lift and outhaul, impaled in each other inside the boom.

--Reef lines can usually be replaced by drawing the new ones through by the old ones without taking anything apart. Sew them together end to end, tape is insufficient.

We are working on this issue here: https://youtu.be/nf-pvDF6-kM?t=189 (this was before the Spectra TL job)
 
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Roger Janeway

Member II
Thanks, everyone, for the links to all the prior discussions of the boom hardware, the explanations of how to open up the boom, and the Garhauer vang endorsements. Today I examined the boom more closely, armed with all this new information and looking for a way to avoid removing the boom end caps. By releasing the wire end of the topping lift, I could pull enough of the rope control line out of the boom side slot to see that it was just tangled. (It had seemed odd that the block would suddenly break.)

How the line got tangled is a mystery, but I suspect based on a few other clues that the PO had messed with it, and the line continued to work for months despite crossing itself twice, until eventually the places the lines crossed got close to each other and created an almost-knot. So I untangled it and went sailing, abandoning thoughts of a rigid vang for now. Still, the topping lift remains my least favorite part of the rigging, because it catches the battens and slats around wildly under sail, or requires constant adjustments to get just the right tension.

The block visible inside the boom in this photo is for the outhaul. The topping lift’s block is further aft. The faded pink line underneath is my backwards-rigged boom vang, which can be adjusted from the companionway.
 

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Roger Janeway

Member II
I don't understand the rigging in the photo--the loops of slack line. Maybe it's just me.

That’s what I found when I slacked off on the topping lift and pulled its control line out from the boom slot. That’s the tangle that caused the jam. I unwrapped it and then pulled it taught. No more loops of slack line.
 

markvone

Sustaining Member
Hi Roger,

I rigged my E26 vang upside down just like yours to make it easier to operate.

My E36RH came with a rigid Hall Quickvang, my first experience with a rigid vang. It operates great as a vang, even better to hold up the boom in light air and fantastic for convenience to eliminate the topping lift.
It probably makes more of a difference the bigger your mainsail/boom is but my boom is only 12 feet long and I'll never go back to a soft vang.

FWIW, my Quickvang is not totally rigid vertically. It will drop ~ 2 inches against spring tension before it hits a hard stop. You get used to this and it will still keep you from falling overboard if you grab it as a handhold. I connect my main halyard to the end of the boom and tension it to eliminate this play.

Mark
 

steven

Sustaining Member
Can you clarify something for me,

On my 35-2 and as far as I know on most '70s boats, the topping lift runs from the back of the boom up to a masthead sheave and then down the mast (inside or outside) to a cleat near the gooseneck (or optionally led back to the cabin top). Does not go though the boom at all.

How is the topping lift run and adjusted when the boom is involved ?

--Steve
 

bgary

Advanced Beginner
Blogs Author
How is the topping lift run and adjusted when the boom is involved ?

The upper end of the topping lift is dead-ended on a pin at the masthead.

At the lower end it (generally) connects to a wire that runs into the boom on a sheave at the very back end of the boom. That wire has (generally) a 2:1 purchase inside the boom, with the running end coming out of a slot on the side or bottom of the boom, near the forward end. Some run that line back to the cockpit, some tie it off at a cleat on the boom.

P1000178sc.jpg

Bruce
 
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