I just replaced the main and jib halyards on my ODay 22. What I forgot to make note of before I removed the old ones is if they run fore or aft of the spreaders. Right now I have the bitter end of the jib running behind the port side spreader and the shackle end of the main running behind the starboard spreader. Can someone verify for me the correct rigging so that I can fix if necessary before I get the mast stepped? Thanks much.
Carol
Carol,
Just take one halyard at a time and while holding the ends of the halyard, stretch it out and kind of eye ball it to see where the pulling end should be in relation to the spreader. You know that the shackle for the Main Halyard wants to come down from the mast sheave inside the spreaders in back of the mast, and the Jib halyard shackle wants to come down in front of the mast and outside of the spreaders. Generally, the pulling end of the Main Halyard will come down the mast to a horn cleat on the Starboard side of the mast, and the pulling end of the Jib Halyard will come down to a cleat on the Port side. It really depends on the angle of your spreaders so you really need to stretch each halyard out and eyeball it. If you get it wrong, it's no "biggie." You can always use a telescopic boat hook to reach up over the spreader and grab the halyard, or you could use a 40'X 3/8" rope to throw over the spreader and straighten it out by tying the end of the halyard to it.
You might say, "OK Fuzzy,--but how the heck can I throw a rope over a spreader?" "I don't know how to tie a "Monkey's Fist"? "
To tell you the honest truth, I don't know how to tie one either, and I wouldn't use one if I did. What if that fancy braided knot in the rope gets caught? Then what? I'll show you an easy way to throw a rope over anything and if you miss your mark, you can pull it back each time without getting caught on anything.
1. First, you start by taking a 3/8" X 40' to 60' rope in your right hand, that is, if you're right handed, and make about seven to ten 12" counter clockwise coils. 2. Then take three or four tight clockwise wraps around the center of your first coils and bring a bight or loop of that rope through the top of those coils. While holding that new loop or bight of the rope, you can now let the first coils drop while you start making a set of new coils in the same way that you made the first coils. The first coils are going to be the weight of the rope, similar to the weight of a "Monkey Fist" and the second coils will give you the distance needed to reach an object. When you get done, just hold the rest of the rope in your left hand, and throw the coils in your right hand.
This techique of throwing rope can be used to throw a rope over a limb, or throw a rope to someone standing on a dock or another boat. I learned this rope trick many years ago when I became a lineman for a power company and most lineman today know and use this rope throwing technique.
Smooth Sailing!
Joe
