topping lift question

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mortyd

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Dec 11, 2004
952
Catalina 30 easy living
our boat is a late mkii and we need to replace the topping lift. doing what the p.o. did is no answer since he did it wrong and ran it through the mast. the catalina owners manual is quite detailed about the rigging thru a block at the clew and how the topping lift is cleated on the boom but all it shows is a single dotted line parallel to the backstay mysteriously ending at the top of the mast. anyone know what is supposed to hold the topping lift at the mast tpp?
 

mortyd

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Dec 11, 2004
952
Catalina 30 easy living
never mind, i found the answer on another page. the boat came with both the topping lift and backstay attached with a factory rigged toggle at the top of the mast.
 

Joe

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Jun 1, 2004
7,999
Catalina 27 Mission Bay, San Diego
The problem with having the topping lift rigged like the factory manual is that the boom has to be overhead for you to adjust it.... so if you're running or broad reaching, where the end of the boom is out of reach, you can't adjust it without bringing everything back in........... That's probably the reason the p.o. changed it to the more practical in-mast system.

The Cat27 was rigged exactly like the Cat30 factory diagram ...... I hated it. So, I opted to install a Garhauer rigid vang and disabled the original topping lift entirely. Perhaps, one of the best, if not the best, boat improvements I've made... right after new sails.
 

mortyd

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Dec 11, 2004
952
Catalina 30 easy living
actually joe, my boat was one of the first to come from the factory with a dutchman - which i loved but the captain hated dealng with the sail cover - so we got a stak pak, but the p.o. must have also not liked the dutchman so he incorrectly rigged a new totally extraneous topping lift which we now have to deal with since the line he used has died. i also don't understand your refernce to the end of the boom since the factory system is cleated mid boom not at the end. do we have the same manual? maybe not.
 
Mar 11, 2010
292
Catalina Tall Rig/ Fin Keel Deale, MD
Our '84 (#3518) has the original factory topping-lift fixed at the masthead clevis pin and then is cleated mid-boom after moving through a block at endboom. And Joe's right, the existing mid-boom cleat is a PIA. Even with easing the mainsheet and vang, it's a real effort to lift the boom and adjust it. It's a feature of the two-line reefing (original system) strategy that I really don't like.

Our second "rear-facing" masthead sheave goes unused. The first sheave, of course is for the main halyard, but had I been thinking correctly with the mast down, I would have re-rigged our boom topping lift by attaching it at the endboom -first, then up to the second sheave, then down the mast and out through one of the the deck organizers. You'd have a cabintop winch for muscle on the lift as you stand on the deck, holding up the boom (and having easy access to the mainsheet, etc.). Going this route would have also enabled using it as a back-up main halyard. Keep it, Morty, it's a good thing.

Rob
 

Joe

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Jun 1, 2004
7,999
Catalina 27 Mission Bay, San Diego
i also don't understand your refernce to the end of the boom since the factory system is cleated mid boom not at the end. do we have the same manual? maybe not.
We're probably a little different.... my older 27 has the fixed wire topping lift with some tackle at the boom end for adjustment..... the control line is led forward a few feet to a clam cleat on the boom's port side.... the boom's starboard side was reserved for the reefing line.

My point, Morty, is the system is restrictive and inconvenient..... you will quickly tire of it.......if it was me... I'd just replace the line on the old set up.... you also have the benefit of a second rear facing halyard.
 

mortyd

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Dec 11, 2004
952
Catalina 30 easy living
joe, they make chocolate and vanilla. i liked the topping lift along the boom just fine, it's now that it died i've run into this problem. i think the p.o. used clothesline, literally.
 
Aug 8, 2009
52
Catalina 30 MkII Forked River, NJ
Morty,

My 94 C30 has a line that goes from the rear of the boom over a rear masthead sheave, down the mast and exits through an opening in the mast about three feet above the deck on the starboard side with a cleat just below. The line was old and sad looking when I bought the boat but I tied a new line to it and pulled it through the mast. It allows you to raise or lower the boom from the cabin top or you could run it back to the cockpit.
 
Jul 7, 2009
218
Catalina 30 Mark I Stockton, Mo
My topping lift ran from the end of the boom to a mast head sheeve, then down the outside of the mast to a cleat on the mast. The PO had enough line that I was able to run it back to the cockpit. I put it next to the main sheet (mid-boom sheeted) where I can adjust either one as necessary.
 
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