Solo sailing and Halyards.

[John Pelaez]

Has anyone tried to set up the halyards for control from the cockpit?I sail my 25 alone at times and it is quite a production for me to get the sails up and set off - not to mention dousing the sails. I have been looking into running mast base blocks, rope clutches and a small winch on the outside of the companion way sliding hatch - but would like to know if anyone else has done this. It is a pretty common setup on a lot of the Catalina boats and I believe it would improve my sailing. Any help would be gratefully accepted.John

 

[Ed Schenck]

Working on it.

I've been collecting the pieces/parts from E-Bay and 'Gear Here' on this site. I have the "new" winch($65.), X2 deck organizers, and two double rope clutches. The port side cabin winch is already there. That will support four lines to the cockpit that are all at the mast today. Still need the turning blocks to anchor at base of mast. I single-hand my H37C and in rough weather would rather not be climbing about the mast.

 

[Doug T.]

Running lines aft

I don't have the H25, but I ran 6 lines aft on our Sabre 28:Starboard: main halyard, vang, outhaulPort: jib & spinnaker halyards, reefing/cunningham lineWinches were already there on both sides. I put in the mast step blocks (the mast step already had places to attach the blocks), Harken deck organizers & Lewmar triple rope clutches.(I love those rope clutches!!)Make sure you put in very solid backing plates. Depending on your boat this might require cutting out sections of the headliner, but you can find covers that'll hide the holes.BTW: Since I have roller furling, I've found that there's not much point in having the jib halyard run aft from the mast. If I ever have to change to a storm sail rather than simply furl, I have bigger problems to deal with than simply going to the mast! I'm thinking of putting it back at the mast and using the space for some other, more esoteric control line. Not sure what yet.... another reef line? Lazy jack retractor (after I install lazy jacks)? Single-line preventer control?

 

[David Foster]

h27 set-up

I rigged our '77 h27 main and spinnaker halyards as follows: Cheek blocks at the bottom of the mast.Deck organizer with 2 pulleys to take the lines from the mast to the side of the cabin.Rope clutcesw.WinchCleat.I drilled holes for the fittings through the liner. Remember to drill-fill-drill to protect the balsa core. Drill a 3/4 inch hole through the balsa layer with a hole saw. Fill with epoxy and filler. Then drill the hole for the hardware mount through the epoxy/filler plug. This keeps water from seeping into the balsa core, and turning your cabin roof spongy.By the way, I got all the hardware free from my riggger's "cast-off" bin.DavidLAdy Lillie

 

[Bill O'Donovan]

Simple solution

Buy a plastic rope clutch for $5 at the store and screw it onto the mast. When you go forward to raise the main (recommended because the leverage is better), simply thumb the halyard into the clutch when you're 90% or 95% up. Then go back to the well, pull the slack line, and ratchet up the rest. I did this for years on my Catalina 25 and do it now on my Hunter 29.5. Best $5 investment I ever made.

 

[John Allison]

Have Done This

What I have done to make my h25 more solo friendly is: added roller furling making the headsail quite manageable from the cockpit; and, run the mainsail halyard back to the cockpit by adding a mast base lead block to the base of the mast allowing the halyard to change directions from the vertical to the horizontal, a deck organizer to change direction from beam-to-beam to fore/aft, a power clutch and a Lewmar (size 6) winch. The fore/aft portion of the halyard is run outboard of the starboard side handrail with winch mounted near to aft cabin bulkhead outboard of the handrail and power clutch mounted forward of that. Works great. Other solo helpers include a lazy jac and tiller tamer.