Anyone has change out their spreaders? How about a mainsheet

[MoondancerFL]

I am restauring my '79 catalina 30 tall rig. I just had my spreaders remade in the original wood and now im wondering if anyone has changed out theirs and can tell me how and with what and how are they attached to the side stays?

My second question is have anyone changed their steel cable mainsheet and jibsheet for rope? If so how did you do it

 

[Joe Diver]

I have a C25....but both of those things are pretty common changes we make to our boats.

Not sure about wood spreaders....mine are aluminum and we have a boot mod that improves both ends of the spreaders.

Going all rope on the halyards is very common. First have to make sure the sheaves up top can handle the size rope you're looking at. If not, replace them, but if so, it's really easy. Just get your new halyard, use the old one as a messenger, and run the new one through.

 

[mortyd]

Re: Anyone has change out their spreaders? How about a mains

i got a new mainsheet and traveler from garhuaer six years ago, both a giant improvement and both still look like new.

 

[Team118]

I did change my mainsail and jib halyards from wire to rope.

I pulled my wife up using the jib halyard last year. She then cut the mainsail halyard and ran new all rope line through. 3/8" was the largest I could use if I recall. The sheaves in the top mast were for wire, but they held the rope fine.

The following year, I took the mast down and replaced the jib halyards too. I also replaced all 4 sheaves with new onces from Catalina Direct...$56 a crack!

The only negative thing about the new sheaves was the hole was larger than the original pin...so they float a bit. But they work great.

On my setup, I couldn't replace the sheaves while the mast is up because you have to pull that 'pin' which releases either both fore sheaves or both aft sheaves. i included a picture of the masthead. The pin that is still in place is the one that holds the sheaves....

I would assume that if you're replacing the spreaders, then the mast is down and all of this will be a breeze.

Chris

 

[MoondancerFL]

Re: Anyone has change out their spreaders? How about a mains

Ty for your input its very useful I have previously only worked on small sunfish kind of sailboats lol so a massive 30 its a whole new world. I am actually replacing the spreader while the mast is up. it should be interesting to say the least.