On replacing a bad jib halyard on my '85 28.5, I sewed and taped the replacement halyard to the cut end of the old. But, the two came apart at the sheave at the masthead and, you can guess the inevitable...the new halyard fell to the deck and the old one ran down through the mast. I have a pretty good idea how to climb the mast and feed the replacement through, but I would like to be certain. Has anyone else had to do this, and are there any tricks, cautions, etc? Lou
Replacing halyard
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Re-Riging A Halyard
You will obviously need to be hauled up the mast on the Main Halyard in a Bosun's Chair first. Bring up about 80 feet of nylon cord / nylon line of 80-100 lb breaking strength messenger line to feed in from the top outside of the sheave using 3-4 crimp-on fishing weights to 'pull' the messenger line down the inside of the mast. The interesting and time consuming part is to get these weights to fall to the aft side of the spreaders as they pass by on the inside of the mast. My mast is raked slightly aft so it wasn't all that difficult. Once the weights get to the bottom of the mast, you will need to create a thin wire 'hook' to reach in from the underside of the sheave at the corresponding side of the mast and slowly draw out the weights and messenger line. Now I did this several years ago to run a second Genoa halyard so I had both the original halyards inside the mast and had to make sure the weights and messenger line didn't wrap around or foul the existing halyards. I had read of someone using a short length of bicycle chain as the weight in order to let it fall past the interior crosss piece at each spreader, but thought that would have been more difficult. The 80 foot length allowed me to get down to the mast base and lift and release the weight in order to find the weights at the mast base sheave. Once you have run the messenger line out below the sheave the next important issue is to make sure the connection of the messenger line to the 'new' halyard will be strong and smooth enough to pass freely over the top sheave,down the mast and out the base sheave. However you tie or sew the messenger line to the halyard, you should be able to use duct tape to create a smooth taper. Hopefully you will be successful in this endeavor, and probably never ever have it happen again.
You will obviously need to be hauled up the mast on the Main Halyard in a Bosun's Chair first. Bring up about 80 feet of nylon cord / nylon line of 80-100 lb breaking strength messenger line to feed in from the top outside of the sheave using 3-4 crimp-on fishing weights to 'pull' the messenger line down the inside of the mast. The interesting and time consuming part is to get these weights to fall to the aft side of the spreaders as they pass by on the inside of the mast. My mast is raked slightly aft so it wasn't all that difficult. Once the weights get to the bottom of the mast, you will need to create a thin wire 'hook' to reach in from the underside of the sheave at the corresponding side of the mast and slowly draw out the weights and messenger line. Now I did this several years ago to run a second Genoa halyard so I had both the original halyards inside the mast and had to make sure the weights and messenger line didn't wrap around or foul the existing halyards. I had read of someone using a short length of bicycle chain as the weight in order to let it fall past the interior crosss piece at each spreader, but thought that would have been more difficult. The 80 foot length allowed me to get down to the mast base and lift and release the weight in order to find the weights at the mast base sheave. Once you have run the messenger line out below the sheave the next important issue is to make sure the connection of the messenger line to the 'new' halyard will be strong and smooth enough to pass freely over the top sheave,down the mast and out the base sheave. However you tie or sew the messenger line to the halyard, you should be able to use duct tape to create a smooth taper. Hopefully you will be successful in this endeavor, and probably never ever have it happen again.
Bicycle Chain also works....
Lou: A bicycle chain tied to a small line will also work well (according to previous reports). Be sure to find out why the line broke. (User error or something amiss at the mast head). I just replace all the sheaves on the mast head when I install new electronics.
Lou: A bicycle chain tied to a small line will also work well (according to previous reports). Be sure to find out why the line broke. (User error or something amiss at the mast head). I just replace all the sheaves on the mast head when I install new electronics.
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