Repeated main halyard chafing (photos) Lagoon 421 and advice on rigging mainsheet

[Chaff]

Hi,

Sorry if this has been covered before. Our main halyard broke in medium(ish) conditions and we did quite a bit of damage to the top track and mast car. All repairs completed and we have been SUPER careful about what we thought were the cause(s) - too high/ taught, twisted, wrong side of topping lift et. Well lo' and behold, two months later and this... (see two photos)

This chafing aligns with where the halyard enters the mast (after the block) when the sail is full raised.

Firstly... can we sail like this? Currently at Reef 1 but really need to get the whole main up.

Secondly... what do we do? I've inspected all around the top of the mast and can't see anything that would cause the chafe

On another note, I replaced the loop of 10mm that attaches the main sheet block to the boom (see photo). I felt I got the length the same as the old one, however (despite dyneema) it looks a bit longer now. What would be the 'right' size, i.e. the correct distance from the boom to the block.

Thanks for your help!

Al

[PippaB]

The #1 cause I have found for chafe like that is rivets. Are there any rivets attaching anything at the top of the mast? When you pop a rivet the interior end can end up sharp and protruding. Same thing for other fasteners, but rivets seem to be quite a common cause. Can you sail like that? Probably, for a while, but the risk goes up each time. If you can wrap the spot with something sacrificial then maybe longer. Since it is near the end of the halyard (you say when the main is fully raised) do you have enough tail at the other end that you could shorten the halyard ("freshen the nip" for the salty types) and cut it at the wear point? Then apply a chafe sleeve, well served, at the point where it will chafe until you can figure out and remove the cause (which is really the right solution).

For the second, there is no "right" length, but lots of opinions. As long as the top and bottom blocks do not touch when the sheet is fully tightened it functions. The longer your strop the shorter your mainsheet has to be. OTOH, the longer the strop, the more the block can flap around and knock you in the head when things are loose and the sail is flapping.