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Boat Forum / Building / November 2007halyrad systems for small boats?
Hi All, I have a 16' beach cat and the halyards are a source of bother for me. Like most of the beach cats Ive owned the method of tensioning the halyards is less than ideal. There are of course no winches. The only thing there is, is 2 horn cleats; one for main and one for jib. Its not so bad on this cat since there is a mast top halyard lock for the main, then luff tension is adjusted by downhall, but for the jib it's another story. It is very hard to get enough tension on that jib halyard, I try the usual method of putting a half turn around the horn clean then pulling out on the halyard (above the cleat) while trying to retension the tail. By this method i can bootstrap my way to some reasonable tension, but if the wind is blowing hard it's only a matter of time till that horn cleat slacks off a little. It really doesnt take much loss in tension to have the jib luff up there flapping in the wind. How do people solve this problem generally? Whats the best method to get some purchase up here so i can retension while on the water? i was thinking maybe 4:1 or better yet 8:1, but hopefully something simple and lockable.... maybe with a cam cleat rather than a horn cleat? Thanks, Shaun You might want to try a thicker halyard, if the difficulties tensioning or cleating it come from it being too thin. It shouldn't really slip on the cleat; if it is stretching, try less stretchy fibers. Much more than the tension you can build up using the manual method you described I think could easily overload a beach cat rig. (You are gripping the halyard far enough from the cleat, ~ 2 ft above it, when you pull sideways, are you?) On Nov 18, 1:54 pm, "Shaun Van Poecke" <shaunvanpoe...@bigpond.com> wrote: > Hi All, > I have a 16' beach cat and the halyards are a source of bother for me. Like [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > Thanks, > Shaun What I did on a G cat we got was to cut the halyard about 2 feet above the cleat when the sail is raised and tie the resulting cut ends to opposite ends of a becket block.. After raising the sail, loop the halyard under the cleat (or you could mount a cheek block below the cleat to thread the halyard thru) back up thru the becket block and now you have 3:1 purchase, less friction. Cleat the halyard and you are done. This also reduces the loose halyard tail. Fine tuning details: The location of the becket block will restrict how far down the halyard shackel will go, so depending on how low you want the head of the sail to be when lowered, you can adjust the cut. Having the "cut" higher will "waste" more halyard tail when the sail is raised. If the tail doesn't have to be threaded thru the lower turning "block" you can leave the tail permanently threaded thru the becket block. When the sail is raised, just pull some slack from the loop, and hook it under the cleat or whatever. I think Herreshoff used this system a lot. I hope I've made this clear enough. > Hi All, > I have a 16' beach cat and the halyards are a source of bother for me. [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > Thanks, > Shaun This sounds pretty good and usable, thumbing through some catalogues lately I was having a look at some different vang systems, you know the type where there is a larger and smaller pulley inline with each other rather than side by side. Some of these have an integral V cleat too, and they arent madly expensive. I could pretty easily get some good purchase this way, and have maybe just a quick lock shackle to tie it in to the tail of tha halyard. While it is nice to have all that extra purchase (especially for my partner who is smallish) the big advantage for me is being able to tweak a little when on the water. We sail on a lake, and sometimes you just need that extra inch of tension on that halyard. With the current horn cleat around the front of the mast setup, you really have to come back in to sure to do it - there is little hope of fighting against a wind to get tension on it from behind the mast. I'll probably leave the main halyard as it is. Was also thinking of changing my jib sheet system over to 2:1 as well... does this make any problems? Just having a block at the clew, rope tied to the same point that the cleat is, then up to the clew and back down to the cleat. Again, this is mostly for my partner who sometimes struggles with the jib sheet. > What I did on a G cat we got was to cut the halyard about 2 feet above the > cleat when the sail is raised and tie the resulting cut ends to opposite [quoted text clipped - 37 lines] >> Thanks, >> Shaun >This sounds pretty good and usable, >thumbing through some catalogues lately I was having a look at some [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] >the cleat is, then up to the clew and back down to the cleat. Again, this >is mostly for my partner who sometimes struggles with the jib sheet. That is the way they used to do it, back in the good old days before sheet winches. Just means you need handle twice as much rope is all. Or get a stronger partner =:-) Bruce-in-Bangkok (Note:remove underscores from address for reply) I know it's not realy nautical but on my 17' siren I used to Make a truckers hitch up above the cleat then a turn around the cleat and tie it off that way >Hi All, >I have a 16' beach cat and the halyards are a source of bother for me. Like [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] >Thanks, >Shaun >I know it's not realy nautical but on my 17' siren I used to Make a >truckers hitch up above the cleat then a turn around the cleat and tie [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] >>Thanks, >>Shaun What are you using for halyard material? If it is not one of the new non stretch synthetics then that is your problem. Just guessing but your sail can't be much more then 15 or 16 feet on the luff and with a single part line and the light material your sails are made out of you ought to be able to pull enough tension in the luff to almost tear the sail. Another point (and I don't remember how that cat is rigged) is what are you tensioning the jib against. I don't believe there is a back stay and if all you have is shrouds that are angled back you can probably pull some bend into the mast with the jib halyard. Bruce-in-Bangkok (Note:remove underscores from address for reply) >>>I have a 16' beach cat and the halyards are a source of bother for me. >Just guessing but your sail can't be much more then 15 or 16 feet on >the luff /// >Bruce-in-Bangkok I picked up a good 24 foot mast from a 16 ft Hobie cat. It's surprizing. Big top pulley with stainless halliard spliced to synthetic. Brian Whatrcott Altus OK > Hi All, > I have a 16' beach cat and the halyards are a source of bother for me. [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > Thanks, > Shaun I've fitted a highfield lever to both my dinghies. These make it very easy to adjust the tension. I do have wire halyards for the jib/genoa though. Regards, Laurie. ----------------- www.Newsgroup-Binaries.com - *Completion*Retention*Speed* Access your favorite newsgroups from home or on the road ----------------- |
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