We are in the 4th season on our P42. On the last day of our 2 week sailing trip last week we snapped the mainsail halyard. Wind was about 13 true, 20 apparent. We were close hauled and sails were in very tight. We have the ZSPAR furling mast. Had a spinnaker halyard installed on commissioning. The dealer used the messager lines for that. About 24 feet down from the mast top, the main halyard was essentially sawed through. The main has only been lowered once in 3 years. The jib goes up and down twice a year. The spinnaker goes up a lot. I suspect the spinnaker halyard crossed over the main and sawed through the main. Anyone have this happen to them? Anybody have any other ideas on what caused it?? Anyone know how to avoid it happening again when we installl the new main halyard? Thanks.
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Mast Penetration
It appears you've analyzed this fairly well. What I'd look for is something that's 24 ft from the masthead. Say, steaming light (screws), topping lift sheave, screw for some other mounting of an object (radar?), top of interior conduit to steaming light, motor for the furler, etc. The Sweedish furler has it's motor about half way up from the gooseneck. The conduit for the steaming light will probably end just below the light. Even a plastic wire tie could cause a problem. A screw would probably leave a roughened finish on the line where as chafing would probably leave a smoother finish and one that is spread over a larger area. I would expect that the spinnaker halyard would show signs of chafe also. Hopefully the solution doesn't require unstepping the mast.
It appears you've analyzed this fairly well. What I'd look for is something that's 24 ft from the masthead. Say, steaming light (screws), topping lift sheave, screw for some other mounting of an object (radar?), top of interior conduit to steaming light, motor for the furler, etc. The Sweedish furler has it's motor about half way up from the gooseneck. The conduit for the steaming light will probably end just below the light. Even a plastic wire tie could cause a problem. A screw would probably leave a roughened finish on the line where as chafing would probably leave a smoother finish and one that is spread over a larger area. I would expect that the spinnaker halyard would show signs of chafe also. Hopefully the solution doesn't require unstepping the mast.
Does not sound like......
Brad: It doesn't sound like a halyard line would cut another one, but I suppose that anything is possible. Obviously you know where halyard broke. Can you measure down from the top and see if there are any screws, rivets bolts etc that could cause enough chaffing. The other thing is that if this was caused by crossing the lines inside the mast, it probably will not happen again. When you redeploy the new halyard you can just get a long line and tie a bicycle chain to one end. You should be able to drop this down the stik and retrieve the chain at the bottom. Then just pull your new halyard through. It will be interesting to see if you find anything else in there.
Brad: It doesn't sound like a halyard line would cut another one, but I suppose that anything is possible. Obviously you know where halyard broke. Can you measure down from the top and see if there are any screws, rivets bolts etc that could cause enough chaffing. The other thing is that if this was caused by crossing the lines inside the mast, it probably will not happen again. When you redeploy the new halyard you can just get a long line and tie a bicycle chain to one end. You should be able to drop this down the stik and retrieve the chain at the bottom. Then just pull your new halyard through. It will be interesting to see if you find anything else in there.
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