Collecting parts for my mast rewire and work - 2 mystery bits and opinions requested

[tipsyravensailing]

Hello all

Getting very close to getting this mast rewired and i was hoping you might be able to help me with some problems i have:

this sheave/ block on the aft of the mast head. Its above the roller furler. I thought maybe a sun shade sleeve for the rolled up jib? honestly, at first i thought bosun chair or some such but someone mentioned just using the main for that. i don't know why this is there or if i need it.

this pin in the stern side of my mast head, just below and slightly forward of the back stay rigging pin. It also only goes through one half of the mast head. I thought maybe this would be the topping lift for the boom but it'd put a sheet in a weird spot against the sail.

parts! just waiting for the toplight. no the copper wires are not going to remain as the cotter pins... they're just there while i wait for my bag of spare hardware bits to show up. The big problem i have here is fitting all this stuff up there... I've ordered a windex extender to get the windex itself back stern from the antenna. The wifi unit i'm at a bit of a loss where might be best for it and hoping some folks might have suggestions. The B&G sensors would mount directly behind that chrome hardware loop and the toplight which i don't have just yet immediately behind that. The question becomes then that the weather platform is in front of my light but does that really matter? The light division between red and green is right there too anyway...

 

[Parsons]

First -- thanks for the pictures as it makes this so much easier.
The 'chrome loop' and the attached block are for flying a spinnaker. I was confused at first by your comment, which I think was a typo, "... block on the aft of the mast head. Its above the roller furler" It's actually at the front, and is outboard of everything so the spinnaker flies freely on all sides. If you have no intention of flying a spinnaker and rigging the associated halyard, might as well leave the block off as well so it doesn't rattle around up there.

I have no earthly idea what that spare pin is for on the aft side of masthead as it does not have a sheave to run a halyard to. The two sheaves forward of that are for a main halyard and topping lift. I might as well say it first as this is common advice, before you put the mast up, run another halyard across those sheaves. You can never have too many halyards if something goes wrong, and they're difficult to rig standing on the deck.

Fully agree with extending your Windex behind your masthead and over the main sail. Besides room at the top, it also brings it behind the masthead so it's easier to see from your cockpit. Remember to apply some red thread Locktite to the mount bolts (not the setscrews on the plastic fitting) so that it doesn't come apart up there. If you replace it later, you'll replace the entire shaft and indicator together, so you'll never take the tabs nor arrow off the shaft once assembled. Getting the tabs evenly spread port & starboard is an art form, by the way.

Great project, by the way, so good luck and send a picture when it's done.

 

[tipsyravensailing]

i'll google rigging a spinnaker though the boat did not come with one. i will likely have questions regarding a spinnaker soon

 

[rgranger]

i'll google rigging a spinnaker though the boat did not come with one. i will likely have questions regarding a spinnaker soon

Keep your eye on eBay for a used one. Every now and again you see one pop up. I got a nice one for my H26 and it fits very well. I don't race so I only bring her out when the wind is very light but it is fun to fly.

 

[tipsyravensailing]

oh gawds. that makes the block under the steamer light make much more sense - its the non existant spinnaker pole uphaul... and the block at the mast is what gets the sail up therein the first place. the ring on the front of the mast is where the pole clips to on that end?

Stellar. now its just a question of should i get one, and what to get if i should

 

[Parsons]

@rgranger is absolutely right about looking for a used one, if you're just playing around. I would not suggest eBay for other sails (usually just junk), but spinnakers have some advantages. First, there is much more latitude for size differences as they don't have to fit in a track or exactly conform to the rig. This means that a spinnaker from a Catalina 27 etc. probably will work on your boat, but the genoa might not. Second, as they're downwind sails they don't usually suffer from much stretching that kills genoas. Basically, no holes and it will work well enough. So you can easily validate the quality of what you bought, as opposed to buying a used, stretched genoa where you need to fly it upwind to see if it's garbage.

BTW: get a friend to show you how to rig and sail it, if you're not experienced with one. Sailing a spinnaker is somewhat advanced, and it's easy to scare yourself and crew. Check our "chinese gybes" on YouTube for some bad examples.

 

[tipsyravensailing]

oh and parsons - the halyards are not internal though the mast head has openings that would allow that. The halyard passes from the side its on, through the channel to the second sheave, then down. If i routed them internal then ya, i could have spare halyards front and back but i don't have the "exit plates" to get the lines back out of the mast... i'd need 4. my winch is only on one side too so i'd have to put all four on that one face... thats a lot of holes to cut in the mast isn't it?

 

[Parsons]

Ah, I see your point about not wanting to cut so many holes in a relatively small mast, particularly on the same side, creating weaknesses.

 

[tipsyravensailing]

As much as i'd like to "be prepared" i think i'm going to stay away from running internal sheets.

The spinnaker bit is worthy of investigation. I'm trying to figure out now how they propose putting the halyard for it, and the snuffer uphaul on there... and how exactly the snuffer downhaul won't become a slapping line.

The website i found first doesn't talk about a spinnaker pole. https://stingysailor.com/2015/07/11/how-to-rig-a-cruising-spinnaker-in-4-easy-stages-2/ so i'm ... on the fence. the domain name alone makes me doubt a bit but the content makes sense and flows with the exception of that bit in the last paragraph i wrote here.

 

[Parsons]

You could very easily fly an asymmetrical spinnaker from your bow anchor roller / stem plate, and not have to use a pole. Sort of like an over-sized genoa. The spinnaker sock is a self-contained unit that does not have additional halyards. Attach the halyard to the sail head, and the sock works around it with the single attachment point. The up and down lines are normally continuous loop, and it does hang around, but you could just loosely tie it off to a convenient mast or deck fitting aft of the spinnaker.

 

[dlochner]

this pin in the stern side of my mast head, just below and slightly forward of the back stay rigging pin. It also only goes through one half of the mast head. I thought maybe this would be the topping lift for the boom but it'd put a sheet in a weird spot against the sail.

Let's get the terminology straight, the line you are calling the sheet is really the halyard. The large clevis pin is likely for the backstay, the smaller one is for the topping lift. The halyard will not interfere with the topping lift. When the mainsail is hoisted the halyard will be in the mast or down the front of the mast. If the mainsail is cut correctly the topping lift should not interfere with the mainsail. The head of the mainsail will probably not reach the top of the mast. There is a band near the top of the mast, that band shows the maximum hoist of the mainsail, i.e., the top of the mainsail should not go above that line.

There are many ways to secure the topping lift while sailing. Some have line on the backstay to clip the topping lift to other designs use blocks and cleats to adjust the height and tension on the topping lift.

Just a note on terminology. The various terms used to describe boat parts have evolved to reduce confusion. Learning the proper terms and teaching your crew the proper terms is both a mark of seamanship and essential for safe sailing. Telling me to release the halyard when you mean release the sheet can have some untoward effects as the sail comes down on your head.

 

[tipsyravensailing]

wait - the topping lift - is that a halyard or a sheet? i thought halyard was for the sails themselves. Is then any "rope" that pulls something up a halyard?

 

[dlochner]

wait - the topping lift - is that a halyard or a sheet? i thought halyard was for the sails themselves. Is then any "rope" that pulls something up a halyard?

Halyards raise and lower things like sails and flags.

Sheets control the angle of the sail to the centerline of the boat. They trim the sail.

Topping lifts hold things up like booms and spinnaker poles.

Downhaul pull things down or hold things down, like the downhaul on the spinnaker pole.

The only rope on a boat is a bolt rope and that holds the sail into the mast track.

 

[dziedzicmj]

the topping lift - is that a halyard or a sheet?

Neither. It is a topping lift.

 

[Parsons]

You could call it a main boom uphaul, if you'd like!

 

[tipsyravensailing]

*facepalm* i'll take this moment and be frustrated.

Now i think i'll start a new post and ask for the formal names for each of the controls i know i have and see if there's any i'm flat out missing for my particular boat.