How is the jib halyard supposed to be tied off?

[CapitalistSailor]

Hello forum,

I purchased a Beneteau 311 last year, and I love the boat. The boat was fully rigged when I bought it, and I'm puzzled by how the jib halyard is rigged. The halyard exits the mast on the port side, goes through a clam cleat, and ties to a conventional cleat on the post side of the mast. The halyard is coiled and tied off to a bail on the front of the mast. This bail looks like something a spinnaker pole would attach to. There is no way to get tension on the jib halyard other than jumping the halyard. The clam cleat just below where the halyard exits the mast is ineffective in holding tension on the halyard.

The rigging diagram in the owner's manual does not show the jib halyard in the arrangement of lines led to the cockpit line clutches.

Is this arrangement the way the jib halyard is supposed to be rigged?

 

[reworb]

Mine is lead back to the jammer on the port side of the cabin top. I rearranged how several of the lines are run. I ran the furling line to blocks that attach to the stanchions and it ends by the primary port winch. In addition I only have a single reef main and ran the line for the vang to the jammer that the manual specs for the 2nd reef. Works better for me and all the leads are fair the reefing line much more so than factory set up

 

[Ron20324]

That's the way my B323 is rigged, though the line is coiled and hung from that mast cleat. That "bail" you refer to is used for the spin pole on my boat, but it was an added-on device, not factory. The cam cleat is there so you can tension the halyard, jam it in, then cleat off then take the line out of the clam for other uses. If you did not have the clam cleat, you'd probably not be able to keep your desired tension while cleating off.

 

[CapitalistSailor]

That's the way my B323 is rigged, though the line is coiled and hung from that mast cleat. That "bail" you refer to is used for the spin pole on my boat, but it was an added-on device, not factory. The cam cleat is there so you can tension the halyard, jam it in, then cleat off then take the line out of the clam for other uses. If you did not have the clam cleat, you'd probably not be able to keep your desired tension while cleating off.

Ron, thank you for confirming the current arrangment. For a boat originally designed for serious racing (the Figaro class), such a casual layout is surprising. This is the sort of arrangement I see on boats with halyard winches at the mast. Perhaps with this size jib (116%) and a higher tech cloth not much tension is needed.

 

[CapitalistSailor]

Mine is lead back to the jammer on the port side of the cabin top. I rearranged how several of the lines are run. I ran the furling line to blocks that attach to the stanchions and it ends by the primary port winch. In addition I only have a single reef main and ran the line for the vang to the jammer that the manual specs for the 2nd reef. Works better for me and all the leads are fair the reefing line much more so than factory set up

Reworb,

I've been considering rearranging the lines to accomodate a spinnaker halyard and pole. Also, the lead for the jib furler (over the cabin top instead of along the rail) is a tripping hazard, and the lead is the only deck leak (to be fixed this spring now that things are finally thawing out). I have winches on either side of the companionway for both sets of line clutches so I have several options for change.

I will probably rig the second reef. On the Great Lakes, stronger but sailable winds occur fairly often. On my delivery trip from Lake Michigan to Lake Erie last year, we were down to the second reef on both the jib and main a couple times. The Beneteau handled it really well, and we blasted along under good control. I did a race on Lake Huron last year (on a Tartan 30) in which we were down to a #4 jib and a double reefed main for most of a night, going to windward. The year before also on the Tartan 30 on Lake Huron, we got hit by a dry north wind at dusk that had us down to a double-reefed main and nothing else for a night and a day (we didn't have a #4 that year), and we were at hull speed and some surfing on a broad reach.

 

[DougM]

The jib halyard on my 323 is run back to the cabin top winch through a spinlock cleat just ahead of the winch. I also have a jam cleat at the mast and a conventional cleat below it. I typically use the cabin top winch the tension the jib halyard then set the halyard in the jam cleat temporally, release the spinlock,and cleat the halyard at the mast. I then coil the remainder of the halyard and hang it on the mast cleat just to get the extra line out of the cockpit area, leaving the tail only at the cockpit . Awkward? Maybe, but it works for me.

 

[CapitalistSailor]

The jib halyard on my 323 is run back to the cabin top winch through a spinlock cleat just ahead of the winch. I also have a jam cleat at the mast and a conventional cleat below it. I typically use the cabin top winch the tension the jib halyard then set the halyard in the jam cleat temporally, release the spinlock,and cleat the halyard at the mast. I then coil the remainder of the halyard and hang it on the mast cleat just to get the extra line out of the cockpit area, leaving the tail only at the cockpit . Awkward? Maybe, but it works for me.

DougM, thanks for passing along your jib halyard method. I'll give it a try.