rigging a topping lift

[abruzzi]

just curious, if I rig up a real topping lift for the boom to replace the pig tail, is there any reason not to just replace the main halyard block with a double block? I saw Sumner's pictures, and he placed a second block further out on the backstay tang. Is that necessary to keep it from interfering with the head of the mainsail?

Geof

 

[Sumner]

Two things to consider. One is that you need a lot larger block for the main halyard vs. what you need for a topping lift. If you price the blocks a double big one is going to cost a lot more than a single small one, but maybe you have one.

The other is that....

...the forces on the two blocks are at 90 degrees to each other so I don't think the line would feed as well for the topping lift considering the orientation of the main halyard block. There again the loading is small, so it might work.

With it out on the chicken-head the topping lift is probably less likely to interfer with the sail, but to tell you the truth when our topping lift is slack, like it should be when sailing, it is probably laying on the main. I can't remember, so that must be a sign of that it isn't a problem or I'm not very observant .

I'm not that familiar with the 25, is the problem that there is no chicken-head on it?

Sum

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[abruzzi]

its the same as on the 26, but I was thinking that if I used a double block, the lift could become a halyard if the actual halyard suffered a failure. Maybe I'm over thinking it though. My plan at the moment is to gradually replace all the low quality pulleys with better quality gear that rolls with less friction, and it will also give the opportunity to reengineer some things.

Geof

 

[Sumner]

I can't imagine the halyard having a failure. We use 3/8 for the halyard for ease of use on the hands. That is way larger strength wise than our boats need. The one on our boat when we bought it was years old and faded, but I'll bet you could of still lifted the boat with it.

Not sure if you noticed, but last year I replaced the single block for the topping lift and we now have a double block (above the middle arrow). One side is for the topping lift and the other for the anchor sail up-haul. Lots of lines, but we use them all,

Sum

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