Spare Halyard Stowage ?

[akio.kanemoto]

Greetings Folks,

I've just had my mast/rigging redone and while I appreciate the extra halyards when I need them, I have too many "spares" now.

I have the following forward of the mast:

2 x jib/headsail halyards
2 x spinnaker halyards outboard and forward of the other sheaves
1 x staysail halyard

Out of these, only 1 will "disappear" permanently for the roller furler genoa, but I still have 4 left to stow when not in use.

Inner forestay is also removable, it's dynex with a spectra lashing/strop, (floppy) so can be stowed with the halyards.

Masthead rig, narrow rigging, jib sheets lead outside of shrouds.

I'm looking for an optimal solution, as I have no restriction on where to mount padeyes etc - and I want no halyard slap/chafe.

Last night I tied them all to the forward part of the deck ring/mast collar and tensioned them with a winch, but I needed quite a bit of tension to get them all quiet in the 20knot wind as the halyards lead straight down and need a lot of tension. So this doesn't look like a long-term good solution.

I'm thinking that the solution is installing padeyes to add some distance between the halyards and the mast, but I'm about to put the non-slip on the deck, and I don't want to do this twice.

One option is to put a padeye about a foot forward of the mast and tie them all of there.

Another is to install a padeye about 20cm forward directly in front of the chainplates on each side and a corresponding one aft for the runners.

I'm happy to install as many as required. I have a pile of them (and they're all folding), but I want to ensure that the 135% genoa doesn't get caught up on anything while tacking.

The issue is that I don't have any headsails at the moment (arrival in 4 weeks), and I want to do the work now so I can get the non-slip on ASAP.

Are there any rules of thumb/standard solutions?

Thanks muchly!!!!

[Tempest245]

I've got an extra halyard that I tie off to the cabin top handrails. I've also had it attached to the mast collar and just use a bungy to the shrouds to pull it away from the mast to stop it from slapping. I'm not as ambitious as you. The pad eyes sound like good solution. The only thing I would wonder about is.. Is a foot away from the mast enough to keep it from slapping 25 ft up? Maybe, with enough tension. Angles?

[akio.kanemoto]

Originally Posted by Tempest245

I've got an extra halyard that I tie off to the cabin top handrails. I've also had it attached to the mast collar and just use a bungy to the shrouds to pull it away from the mast to stop it from slapping. I'm not as ambitious as you. The pad eyes sound like good solution. The only thing I would wonder about is.. Is a foot away from the mast enough to keep it from slapping 25 ft up? Maybe, with enough tension. Angles?

I think a foot forward will be plenty with a bit of tension, but i'm worried about tacking the genoa.

I'm wondering now whether it would be a better idea to install the padeyes a little inboard and forward of the chainplates?

Having said that, after googling some more, i've found a few examples of people taking their halyards and inner forestays AFT of the shrouds.. Why? Doesnt that chafe even more?

[barnakiel]

We hook ours at the rail where they impede sail handling least (this depends on where we are going). We do not apply any tension on the halyards.

The option is hook them at the mast step and tie them off.

b.

[svHyLyte]

Attach messenger lines to the shackles and run them up to the masthead. You can obtain 1/8" braid in different colors at West Marine and some of the other marine vendors and we use color codes for our spare jib halyards (blue), spinnaker halyards (red), main halyard (green) etc. The messengers run down the side of the mast easily without interfering with other lines.

When we secure the boat for hurricanes, we run all of the halyards to the masthead in this fashion to eliminate their windage.

FWIW...

[barnakiel]

Needles to say the hiss and the clanging the mast cahfing get eliminated too.

The same story for leaving the boat somewhere over a longer period - hide the halyards. The lower ends bundle and cover with a bag at the mast base - will give any soft halyards plenty of extra life.

b.

[akio.kanemoto]

I didnt think of messengers, could be a neater solution.

Thanks for that!