Broke my topping lift / options to replace

[Peregrine1983]

Hi all,

Curious what my options are with my currently "broken" setup. Boat is a 1983 Pearson 424 ketch.

Yesterday, I was 20' in the air removing the old black clamps (one seen in the sideways photo) from a Dutchman Flaking system from my main topping lift. When I removed the last clamp, suddenly my main boom dropped to my deck with a crash. The clamp had been holding the two ends of my topping lift together. This seemed crazy, but I guess that's how that system works.

So, now I am trying to decide what to replace my topping lift with. My old topping lift was a loop.

Attached are photos of the block at the top of the mast and the block and lines at the boom. BTW, these pics were taken before I had replaced my halyards.

Should I pull a new line through and splice it together in a loop to mimic how it was before?

Any thoughts appreciated.


EDIT: I should add that I'm replacing my main with a Mack sail and Mack Pack lazy jack system. That's why I was getting rid of the old system.

[Pete7]

Pull a new line through, but I wouldn't splice it. One end on the boom and the other cleated off at the bottom of the mast or back to the cockpit via a pulley as required. Are there any more sheaves available or is the only option outside of the mast?

[Peregrine1983]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Pull a new line through, but I wouldn't splice it. One end on the boom and the other cleated off at the bottom of the mast or back to the cockpit via a pulley as required. Are there any more sheaves available or is the only option outside of the mast?

Thanks Pete. I don't have any free in-mast sheaves. I guess cleating off one end at the base of the mast makes sense. You would just tie the other end of the line off to the block at the end of the boom?

[Peregrine1983]

If I just simplify the whole thing and do a bowlin at the top of the mast and a bowlin at the block at the back of the boom, I guess I just lose the ability to pull a new line through without going up the mast.

[Cheechako]

The tiny block at the top looks undersize to me. I wonder if you are better with a piece of SS cable attached directly up there? You appear to have a two part adjustment at the bottom anyway. That's what I used is vinyl covered SS cable, no block at the top. The cable ended a few feet above the boom and the two part block was attached to that.

[alctel]

I replaced my topping lift with a solid vang - you could think about doing that as well

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Peregrine1983

If I just simplify the whole thing and do a bowlin at the top of the mast and a bowlin at the block at the back of the boom, I guess I just lose the ability to pull a new line through without going up the mast.

You can't then adjust the angle of the boom, kind of nice to lift it out of the way when in harbour.

We did have a similar system like Cheechakos image and it worked well, the halyard then went through the boom down the last bit of the mast back to the cockpit. However, we have in mast reefing so only one rope in the boom, if you have slab reefing then likely to have multiple ropes in there already.

[PuttingDoctor]

I think Cheechako has the right idea. I however would opt for SS wire without the vinyl coating as it hides corrosion. You can build one easily at most marine stores with a fixed loop and thimble on both ends. I replaced mine on the Irwin 38 CC after seeing some issues with the prior coated topping lift.

[Sailshabby]

Garhauer rigid vang!

[roverhi]

Used 1/8" dyneema type single braid line with eyes spliced at both ends. No problem with chafe or banging on the sail like wire does in sloppy conditions. The light exotic line has plenty of strength and easy to splice. Got rid of the wire topping lift that had ruined the stitching on the leech of my main more than 10 years ago so no concerns about premature UV damage.

[hamburking]

I suggest a rigid vang. It holds up the boom from below...so no need for a topping lift anymore. Most topping lifts interfere with the leech of the main, so its an improvement.

[GALAWA]

On all my boats I gave up adjustable topping lifts.
My topping lift is a single rope of the proper length, with eyes spliced at both ends, over SS thimbles for longevity.
It is shackled to the mast top. Where the backstay is attached for instance.
It is attached to the boom end with a few inches of lacing for final adjustment of length / boom height.
The rope is inexpensive braided polyester which is cheap and friendlyer to the main sail leach and battens .
Polyester is also softer than cable should the boom drop violently when dropping the main sail.
The rope topping lift is strong enough to lift a dingy with the boom. e.g 12 mm on my 44 ' catamaran.
There are no pulleys, no cleats , no lines running in the mast nor in the boom.

And frankly, when was the last time you needed to adjust the length of your topping lift, other than because it had been disadjusted in the first place ?

[Dockhead]

For another opinion --

What's wrong with what you have? Looks nice to me -- simple and efficient. My boat has a similar system, and it works very well. I think it would be silly to move the moving line up the mast -- that would quadruple -- at least -- the amount of cordage required.

The only thing I don't understand about your setup is why a loop is used instead of a single line. That adds windage for a purpose which is obscure (to me at least). Perhaps you should consider replacing that with a single piece of dyneema, as someone suggested. Easy to splice a couple of loops in it. My boat has wire cable with plastic as some others suggested, but I think dyneema would be better -- lighter, cheaper, no rust, much easier to rig with no swaging.

As to the need of a topping lift at all -- different strokes for different folks, but even with a Selden Rodkicker with the gas strut, which I think is the best of rigid vangs, I use my topping lift all the time. When I'm done sailing I like to park the boom high up so that it's not in the way, and I tension the mainsheet against the topping lift to fix the boom in place so it doesn't swing around. Sometimes in light condition I use a bit of topping lift to shape the sail. For me at least, topping lifts are very necessary.

[Jim Cate]

We have a rigid vang and it does indeed hold up the boom as others have said. But I often wish I had a proper topping lift when reefing... something to take up the weight of the boom as I tension the clew reefing line. Would make it so much easier to get proper tension on the foot of the sail.

Jim

[skipgundlach]

We have a crutch. We also have a very simple topping lift arrangement:

Wire from mast top to a couple of feet above the boom. Sheet on boom rear, turning block at wire, cheek block at boom rear, cleat at boom front.

A quick adjustment gets it out of the crutch or back in when hoisting or flaking/covering. Easy to adjust otherwise.

FWIW, we have the Mack Pack system; the lazy jacks, if you're anal about sail shape, can be dropped and pulled out of the way forward, and the cover bound (roll and tape-tie) simply. But the jacks, if left deployed, tend to keep the boom from too much drop...

Our Mack Pack installation pix begin here, interspersed with a lot of other stuff going on at the same time. If you are doing their web instructions, likely they have been updated since our installation, which exposed a potential misunderstanding point; our original makeup was about 8" too short:

Pictures: Flying Pig Refit 2009/New_Stuff

That point aside, we are thrilled with the folks at Mack and our rig. They offer a full recondition service - restitch the entire pack, patch anywhere needed, and install a new zipper, which we just had done, 9 years later. Our installation replaced a prior pack, but features the T-bar gallows/gantry at the stern which keeps the aft end of it supported; it had previously been lashed to our topping lift, which wasn't a good solution.

Good move to go to the Mack Pack; it's easy and simple to keep your sail covered, though you will want to flake your sail carefully the first few times if it isn't already going by muscle memory from the dutchman rig...