Preparing to Replace Running Rigging
- Thread starter choover
- Start date
needle and thread, sew the bitter ends together as securely as possible. one layer of tape around the joint nice and tight.
If the mast is up, you can use the old trick of burying a paperclip in the end of each line and taping it over. Sewing it is a lot of work and time and is not usually necessary. Remember halyards must go up outside the mast and down through it, not up through it from the deck (else the shackle has to be spliced on after installation; and, if your temporary splice breaks, you won't lose it inside the mast). This is a job best done from a bos'un's chair, but it can be done from the deck if you are very careful and patient.
If the mast is on the ground, you will have success just taping it. I always put a bend in each end and tape the bend back against the standing part on each end before wrapping it all with electrical tape. This method will do just fine on smaller boats with the mast still up-- so long as you provide a very smooth entry and exit for the lines going over sheaves and past other obstructions both inside and out.
Especially if the mast is up, you might try feeding a chaser through first-- some small-diameter cord to take the place of the halyard and then used to pull the new halyard through. This works even better with the bend-and-tape method I use. But beware of cheap, attractive carpentry string or clothesline for this job (and fishing line is just plain no good). I have found the best thing is 1/8" double-braid cord, like that specified for flag halyards-- costs about 18 cents/foot and is well worth an investment in a spool as it can be used for many things (not the least of which is sail stops) aboard a rigged and actively-used boat.
In any case, if you lose one inside the spar, don't panic. Any other line in the spar can be used to carry a chaser along with a replacement, so you can have an extra line in place to lead the halyard you lost. (This is another benefit-- as well as complication-- of having double halyards.) Just make sure to attach a downhaul to the good halyard's shackle so you can get the good halyard back down!
I've rigged dozens of boats using these methods and the only trouble I ever encountered was a few too-long machine screws, used by a PO to install an exit plate, that had actually been bent to about 90 degrees inside the mast from passing things (i.e., halyards on a C44) catching and pulling on them. I got so mad I removed the thing with a grinding wheel-- but that's another story!
If the mast is on the ground, you will have success just taping it. I always put a bend in each end and tape the bend back against the standing part on each end before wrapping it all with electrical tape. This method will do just fine on smaller boats with the mast still up-- so long as you provide a very smooth entry and exit for the lines going over sheaves and past other obstructions both inside and out.
Especially if the mast is up, you might try feeding a chaser through first-- some small-diameter cord to take the place of the halyard and then used to pull the new halyard through. This works even better with the bend-and-tape method I use. But beware of cheap, attractive carpentry string or clothesline for this job (and fishing line is just plain no good). I have found the best thing is 1/8" double-braid cord, like that specified for flag halyards-- costs about 18 cents/foot and is well worth an investment in a spool as it can be used for many things (not the least of which is sail stops) aboard a rigged and actively-used boat.
In any case, if you lose one inside the spar, don't panic. Any other line in the spar can be used to carry a chaser along with a replacement, so you can have an extra line in place to lead the halyard you lost. (This is another benefit-- as well as complication-- of having double halyards.) Just make sure to attach a downhaul to the good halyard's shackle so you can get the good halyard back down!
I've rigged dozens of boats using these methods and the only trouble I ever encountered was a few too-long machine screws, used by a PO to install an exit plate, that had actually been bent to about 90 degrees inside the mast from passing things (i.e., halyards on a C44) catching and pulling on them. I got so mad I removed the thing with a grinding wheel-- but that's another story!