Installing halyard

[Davegnvl]

I just bought a Beneteau 423. It has 2 halyards installed - one for the foresail and one for the mainsail. It looks like there are openings on the mast for 2 more halyards. I'd like to install at least one more so I'll have a spare for a stormsail or for when I go up the mast. How do I run it up/down the mast without getting tangled up inside?

 

[Mike B]

There should be a messenger line already in the mast. Use it to pull the new halyard through and all should be well.

 

[Davegnvl]

There should be a messenger line already in the mast. Use it to pull the new halyard through and all should be well.

Thanks. I'm going to go up the mast this weekend and I'll check it out. I hope that's there!

 

[Ron20324]

As you pull the new halyard in, pull another messenger line with it- for the next time.

 

[Randy Rohrbeck]

If you're not seeing a messenger line at the halyard exit point at the mast base I don't see how there could be one.

It'll be easier to run a messenger and use it to feed the new halyard.

Use a 4" to 6" piece of bicycle chain as a weight to help run the messenger line.

Randy

 

[DougM]

If you are going to run ahalyard through wht appears to be an exit poit at the masthead.... Take a good look at it first. There may not be any sheaves up. there.

If they are not present, the only way to install them is to take the mast down and remove the entire masthead casting. That is the same casting that the backstay(s) attach to.

If the boat is a fractional rig, there may be an opening at the top of the forestay attachment that already contains a sheave.

The advice about using a piece of bicycle chain at the end of a messenger line works well. I've used a small ferrite magnet to grab the chain at the exit point and pull it through, leading the halyard through the opening. Be sure your other halyards are pulled snug so that you don't get the new one twisted around them as you install it.

 

[Ron20324]

If they are not present, the only way to install them is to take the mast down and remove the entire masthead casting. /quote]

Doug, that is not correct- even on the 323. Perhaps some boats, but don't scare to poor guy out of doing this. We recently put a line down the mast on my B323 to hoist the lazy jacks. Having tightened the other halyards and such, we got people on the port rail to tilt the boat so the messenger string and weight just slid down the inner wall of the mast to the exit plate. Having pre-measured the drop, it was easy to lower the string to the exact place.

 

[DougM]

In response to Ron's comment:

What I was referring to was if there is not a shaft and sheaves in the forward section of masthead casting, It has to come off in order to insert the shaft and sheaves. If the sheaves are already present, no problem.

I do know by trial and error that the sheave for the spinnaker halyard is directly above the forestay attachment. So that does not create a problem