Topping lift chafe

[Jef & Marin, Netherlands]

I would like to receive suggestions how to prevent topping lift chafe.
It chafes where it touches the top of the mainsail. It touches the mainsail because of the roach of the mainsail.The topping lift exits the masttop to the starboard of the mainsail halyard. So the wear depends on which tack we are on.

I have tried to keep the topping lift slack when sailing, and to keep it a bit tighter. Both give the same problem.
The topping lift is around 11 mm dyneema with polyester outside. I have sleeved the topping lift locally with dyneema, but that also wears out over time.
Please only answers from people who have solved this issue.
Thank you.

[Rucksta]

Backstay flicker works for me

[Don C L]

Mine does too. I had the sailmaker add a strip of material to the leach up there. No problems now either with chafe on the sail or topping lift. Do you have any photos?

[Tin Tin]

We have same issue with square top mains. On starboard tack your mainsail should be clear of the topping lift, so tighten the TL to stop it flapping around as it will be to windward of the sail. On port tack the head of the sail will tend to lean out toward the toping lift, so slacken the topping lift and the wind will hold the line away from the sail unless it is very light, alternatively if you have a long enough TL bring it in to the mast and cleat it there (still connected to boom end). You will need to remember to tighten it back before dropping the main or even reefing depending on your reefing system. You could controll this with a line from mast base to the helm and a floating block on the topping lift. The topping lift could also be directed back to the helm (it will now need to be pretty long). The most common cause for the topping lift chafe is getting the lines crossed, so when hoisting the sail it needs to be allowed to flip to port when hoisting to clear the lift, if you let the sail flip to starboard the TL can get to wrong side of halyard, this will make short work of halyad and lift.You may know all this but short of putting a sleeve on and assuming your sheaves running free I can't think of anything else.

[psk125]

We removed the topping lift and use a rigid vang instead. No chafe on the sail any more.

[Jef & Marin, Netherlands]

Thanks guys for your very helpful answers.
Rucksta: I have seen backstay flickers. I am not sure this is possible on our boat. The roach might be too big, the flicker might need to be longer than what is available, for instance from Sélden. Plus modifications for the nav lights; I might do this at an occasion that the mast is down.
Tin Tin: Great answer. I always take care that the mainsail is raised port of the topping lift. I will do as you propose: tighten the topping lift on a starboard tack, slacken on a port tack. Hopefully this, combined with the dyneema sleeve, will be adequate.

Pulling the topping lift to the mast: my new topping lift will probably be too short to pull it to the mast with a low friction ring; also I would be worried about destroying the bimini if I forget to bring it back in position before reefing....
psk125: All the lines and blocks at the back of the mast regretfully don't allow adding a vang on our boat.

[psk125]

Perhaps a boom crutch or gallows would work? There are removable and folding designs

[Benz]

While I don't exactly have a roachy main, it is gaff-rigged, which precludes a topping lift at all. The standard procedure, then, is to have "quarter lifts," essentially a topping lift on either side, that don't begin at the masthead, but further down where more convenient, and don't land all the way at the boom end, but further forward where convenient.
Every gaffer I've seen has these, and usually there's lazy jacks incorporated into them. Properly set up, they're slack when the sail is hoisted, and often have a mark to show where they should be when at rest.
This should not be too hard to set up on your boat, if you run them externally from padeyes bolted to the mast.
Also, I'm of the opinion that every seagoing boat should have a boom gallows. It's a safety issue.