When sailing, my jib halyard appears to be going slack when closed haul. I'm assuming that as we tightend the jib sheets it may be stretching the jib halyard. I'm fairly strong and think the halyard is tight and secure. Any thoughts. Is this an issue with aging halyards or something else?
Jib Halyard Slack
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halyards
From what I understand the halyard should not be a type of line that can stretch. When I am climbing we work with two types of ropes: Dynamic and Static. Dynamic has some stretch built in to absorb shock on the rope. The static has no stretch so that is used for rappeling. The same goes for the lines on a boat. Dock lines should be dynamic to absorb shock load and halyards should be static. Quite a few halyards on c-22 are actualy made of wire rope so once set they are there is no stretch. I hope this helps. Shane.
From what I understand the halyard should not be a type of line that can stretch. When I am climbing we work with two types of ropes: Dynamic and Static. Dynamic has some stretch built in to absorb shock on the rope. The static has no stretch so that is used for rappeling. The same goes for the lines on a boat. Dock lines should be dynamic to absorb shock load and halyards should be static. Quite a few halyards on c-22 are actualy made of wire rope so once set they are there is no stretch. I hope this helps. Shane.
J
Jim11240
Slack Jib Halyard
What is the wind strength when this happens? What are your other shrouds doing? Are the leeward shrouds slack or do they remain taut? DO you have an adjustable backstay? Are you adjusting it? Is you jib halyard going slack causing scallops in the Jib leading edge or is your headstay sagging to leeward causing the jib luff to look curved?
What is the wind strength when this happens? What are your other shrouds doing? Are the leeward shrouds slack or do they remain taut? DO you have an adjustable backstay? Are you adjusting it? Is you jib halyard going slack causing scallops in the Jib leading edge or is your headstay sagging to leeward causing the jib luff to look curved?
Give it a tug
Give the halyard a tug when it goes slack. That should do it. Make sure your standing rigging is tight, and the mast is staying "in column" while close-hauled. Adjust the riggin as needed. Remember the higher the wire, the tighter it shoould be. Regards, Ted
Give the halyard a tug when it goes slack. That should do it. Make sure your standing rigging is tight, and the mast is staying "in column" while close-hauled. Adjust the riggin as needed. Remember the higher the wire, the tighter it shoould be. Regards, Ted
Scallops and slack shrouds to leeward
Jim, Thanks. Winds are 10-15. One of the leeward shroud does go slack. The leading edge of the sail does end up with scallops. I do have adjustable back-stay but haven't messed with it. Sounds like I may need to tune the rigging?
Jim, Thanks. Winds are 10-15. One of the leeward shroud does go slack. The leading edge of the sail does end up with scallops. I do have adjustable back-stay but haven't messed with it. Sounds like I may need to tune the rigging?
Sounds like mast pulled forward
To me it appears your mast is being bent forward, which in turn loosens the jib halyard causing it to slacken and put the scallops into the jib. This also loosens the forestay which may cause the lee shroud to slacken as well. This is a potentially dangerous situation as the mast may easily break apart at the spreaders especially if you have the older style oval mast with the original spreaders. Yes, you do indeed need to tune your rig. To do so, I would place your backstay adjuster at about the halfway point between loose and tight. Then using a Loos gage, tighten the upper shrouds to 28 on the Loos gage and the forward and aft lower shrouds to 24 on the Loos gage.
To me it appears your mast is being bent forward, which in turn loosens the jib halyard causing it to slacken and put the scallops into the jib. This also loosens the forestay which may cause the lee shroud to slacken as well. This is a potentially dangerous situation as the mast may easily break apart at the spreaders especially if you have the older style oval mast with the original spreaders. Yes, you do indeed need to tune your rig. To do so, I would place your backstay adjuster at about the halfway point between loose and tight. Then using a Loos gage, tighten the upper shrouds to 28 on the Loos gage and the forward and aft lower shrouds to 24 on the Loos gage.
A few ideas...
Seadog: There are a few things I can add on this issue. The first is to repeat what Shane said. There are 2 types of lines. Some that stretch, and some that don't. If you didn't purchase the jib halyard on your boat, you don't know that the previous owner didn't put on a "stretchy" line, and this could be causing your problem. Do you still have the "wire rope" halyard, or is your jib halyard all line? If it's all line, it absolutely must be lower stretch type of line. When I had the wire rope jib halyard, I found that it didn't stretch much, but I still had to work at getting it tight enough. The next thing is do you have a jib halyard winch? I added one a few years ago after doing without one for 20 years. It's easy to tighten up the jib halyard with a winch on the mast. We don't even need a handle to tighten it, if it isn't too windy. If you don't have a winch for your jib halyard, do you have "jam" type cleats on your mast? If you do, you can put some of the free end of the halyard around the non-jam side of the cleat, then put the halyard over that piece of line and then pull on the halyard. The free part acts as kind of a bushing or roller to reduce the friction, and alloy you to pull the line much tighter. Once you have pulled it tight, then you can jam the halyard into the jam cleat. The above suggestion isn't a good as a winch. The little Anderson stainless steel winch is pretty inexpensive, and looks and holds up to the weather great. One more thing, if you have a little piece of line at the bottom of the jib to get it off the deck and above the bow pulpit, that line, (and I just can't remember what it is called), must also be low stretch line. I'm sure you will figure out a solution. I hate to see my jib scalloped. It does seem to destroy the performance of the boat when going to winward. Plus you are always looking at the jib when you are going to winward, which makes it even worse. Aldo
Seadog: There are a few things I can add on this issue. The first is to repeat what Shane said. There are 2 types of lines. Some that stretch, and some that don't. If you didn't purchase the jib halyard on your boat, you don't know that the previous owner didn't put on a "stretchy" line, and this could be causing your problem. Do you still have the "wire rope" halyard, or is your jib halyard all line? If it's all line, it absolutely must be lower stretch type of line. When I had the wire rope jib halyard, I found that it didn't stretch much, but I still had to work at getting it tight enough. The next thing is do you have a jib halyard winch? I added one a few years ago after doing without one for 20 years. It's easy to tighten up the jib halyard with a winch on the mast. We don't even need a handle to tighten it, if it isn't too windy. If you don't have a winch for your jib halyard, do you have "jam" type cleats on your mast? If you do, you can put some of the free end of the halyard around the non-jam side of the cleat, then put the halyard over that piece of line and then pull on the halyard. The free part acts as kind of a bushing or roller to reduce the friction, and alloy you to pull the line much tighter. Once you have pulled it tight, then you can jam the halyard into the jam cleat. The above suggestion isn't a good as a winch. The little Anderson stainless steel winch is pretty inexpensive, and looks and holds up to the weather great. One more thing, if you have a little piece of line at the bottom of the jib to get it off the deck and above the bow pulpit, that line, (and I just can't remember what it is called), must also be low stretch line. I'm sure you will figure out a solution. I hate to see my jib scalloped. It does seem to destroy the performance of the boat when going to winward. Plus you are always looking at the jib when you are going to winward, which makes it even worse. Aldo
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