Halyard idea

[higgs]

This may be a bad idea - certainly would not my first, but I will throw it out here and see what happens. I am replacing my halyards over the next couple of years.

With a jib on a furler, often for the entire season, what would be the problem of using only slightly more than a half lengthed halyard eliminating the large bundle of excess line one must find a spot for on deck or in cockpit. When dropping the jib, one attaches an old halyard with a sheet bend and and as long as the jib is down before the knot reaches the masthead, you should be OK. With the jib up, just untie and store the old halyard where you can get to it should you need to lower the jib in an emergency.

 

[David10790]

Would Work Except for When you Need It

So say you get caught in a squall or a thunderstorm (as we had here on Saturday - wind to 70 knots) and of course, the furler jams as you try to reduce sail.

Now you have to find the halyard line (where did I stow that thing?), leave the cockpit, go up to the mast, tie a good knot that won't jam on anything, and drop the sail, all while the boat is going up and down and the headsail is flogging like crazy and beating you to death with the bowlines on the sheets.

I would rather just hang the extras halyard on the mast and have it there for when I need it.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Good idea

We used to have the jib halyard run aft to the cockpit, too, when we bought our boat. Then I realized I wanted to add a cunningham, no more openings in the deck organizer or the stuff in the cockpit. Then I realized that, once the jib was up, the jib halyard did nothing (and we loosen the jib tension with a high strength line pendant at the foot of the jib before we furl it) and there was no reason to have it led aft.

So, I re-reeved the jib halyard out from the cockpit, added another cleat on the mast and now leave it coiled on the mast. It's been working fine for 10 1/2 years.

It's still full length in case the next owner (oh, yeah, like that'd ever happen!) wants to do it "his" or "her" way and lead it all the way back.

 

[alexco38]

Do you use the Jib halyard to adjust the tension of the jib? You can get more or less curve on the leech, much like the cunningham for the main. Unless you don't race trim, just set and done.

 

[Deadline]

Good idea

Anything that reduces clutter is good for foot safety.
Just have a plan in the event of a quick takedown.

 

[Ron20324]

You might put a bag over the coiled line to prevent UV and other dirt from setting in. I just had a similar "event" on a friend's boat last Saturday, and I hope he is reading this thread.

 

[Clark]

Stu, you hit on one of my projects for this weekend. I'm thinking of using a good quality 5/16" with just enough length to bring the jib halyard shackle to the furler drum and leave enough to handle at a (new) mast cleat.

alexco30; it is pretty unlikely that one would need to adjust the jib halyard tension very often with the jib on the furling units foil. JMHO.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Do you use the Jib halyard to adjust the tension of the jib? You can get more or less curve on the leech, much like the cunningham for the main. Unless you don't race trim, just set and done.

Of course we do. The purpose of the foot pendant, which is high strength small diameter line is twofold: one to release the luff tension at the end of the day before furling, and the second is to tension the luff. The halyard is occasionally tightened because it's only StaSet, so it stretches over time and is required to be tightened to keep the top swivel of our ProFurl as high as it needs to be. I'm not clear on your leech discussion.

 

[Richard Bryer]

The old CDI furler (which I have) works that way. It is one of the things I DON"T like about it. I would like to be able to lower the sail without attaching a line so I can getthe internal halyard back again, and I would like to be able to tension the sail using a winch.

 

[Stu Jackson]

The old CDI furler (which I have) works that way. It is one of the things I DON"T like about it. I would like to be able to lower the sail without attaching a line so I can getthe internal halyard back again, and I would like to be able to tension the sail using a winch.

Richard,

I hear ya! We had one of those on our boat before I got the boat bucks together to redo our standing rigging (14 years old, boat was 2 for us when we finally did) and install our new ProFurl unit. The old CDI was broken up top, and we couldn't even get the sail down! It lasted so long that the sacrificial cover on the jib deteriorated so much I had to have the sail cut down to a 95%. That worked out fine for us, since I now have a summer high wind jib, the 95% and had purchased a slightly used 110% that was in great shape just after we bought the boat. We use the 110% during the lighter winter winds and for summer racing.

I would caution against using a winch to tighten the luff - you may apply too much tension, just be very careful. Our jib foot line pendant suffices. In lieu of tightening the luff with a winch on the halyard, try a backstay tensioner. We removed our fixed split backstay, raised the split to avoid head banging on the split backstays when at the helm, and used a Garhauer backstay splitter and a Garhauer vang, like this:

 

[Benny]

I have been thinking about that isue on and off for the past ten years then Stu comes along and provides the most simple and effective solution. It will probably take me another five to implement. Good going.

 

[Benny]

As far as using the halyard to tighten the jib, don't; you may be palcing to much tension on the furler tack ring. Tighten the headstay wire instead.

 

[oldiesrocker2001]

I also found that my jib halyard was not needed once the mast was up(the halyard was used as part of the mast raising system). Instead of stowing it out of the way and/or shortening it, I clipped it to one of the padeyes for my babystays, leaving some slack on the too-small cleats which are not needed as other lines are led to the cockpit. This could still work as a messenger line, though I'd have to use a boathook to snag and drag the slack down when re-hanking the jib. Not the best solution, but then I haven't had to use it in this manner yet.

 

[Bad Obsession]

Jim....I gather that you raise the Jib by hand to the top and then use something else to tension the jib at the bottom of the jib? I can't even put my jib up the furler without cranking the last foot or so on the winch.

 

[Capt. Kermie]

I would get the full length jib halyard, not only for reasons listed above, but if you have a sail on a CDI furler you can now use the jib halyard for a spinnaker halyard without removing the jib sail. If you don't have a spinnaker you now have a reason to get one, to make use of the spare jib halyard!