Thanks Jerry, I will post some pictures when I next lower the mast (probably a few days to a week). That will probably clarify a lot. It's hull #38, red gelcoat, if that helps jog your memory (just kidding! ...waaaayyy too long ago :-). The two pairs of sheaves are parallel, side by side, and do have a thin divider between them. They appear to be nylon, or some kind of plastic, not aluminum (they're black, whatever they are). The whole set of sheaves, in the masthead casting, is just rotated slightly counter-clockwise from a straight fore-aft line (it's cast that way, in other words). It makes sense basically, because one set of sheaves is centered fore on the mast, the other is centered aft, and the free ends of the halyards coming off the other side are out of the way of each other and of the centered sheaves. But the counter-clockwise rotation, or offset, of the whole set of sheaves means the sheave centered on the mainsail track on aft of mast is to port at front of mast (and vice versa for front/jib sheaves). If it had been cast with a clockwise rotation, then the halyards would naturally be main to starboard and jib to port. Maybe it's some kind of southern hemisphere setup? ;-) I also wondered if someone had done some strange modifications at some point. But there are no signs of "hacking" on the masthead - no extra or unused or re-drilled or over-drilled holes, etc.. The masthead casting will only fit that one way into the mast extrusion. So...a mystery for now, unless anyone here can shed more light. Pictures later on (or from other early years M17s) may help. And yeah, as Dave says, I've always seen main halyard to starboard too. It just makes sense, for reefing, right of way, etc.. That's why this was puzzling. But I can't see any way to make it otherwise...yet...I mean, without a full aluminum cutting and welding and fabrication shop! thanks, John S. On 06/02/2016 05:54 PM, jerry@jerrymontgomery.org wrote:
John- I think it's traditional for the main halyard to be on the Stbd side, and that's always been the way I've done it. probably no reason other than when crewing on someone else's boat it's one less thing to think about.
I'm confused about the angles sheaves. When I was building boats I did most of that work myself, and don't see where I could screw things up that badly. But I also can't see where someone would do that in an aftermarket situation. The 17 masthead was set up to have two rows of 3/8" aluminum sheaves, with a thin aluminum divider between to keep the halyards separate. The main halyard was on stbd and the jib was on port. If someone drilled the masthead at an angle they would have to use thinner sheaves to get them to fit, because things were tight anyway. A 1974 17 was in the second year of production and has probably had a number of original- thinking owners.
-----Original Message----- From: John Schinnerer Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2016 3:37 PM To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats Subject: M_Boats: halyard sides, masthead rig clarification
Hi all,
In case anyone has any additional info on this...
My M17 (1974) came with red and green halyards. However the red was on the starboard side sheaves and the green was on the port side sheaves. So yesterday I swapped them around - it wouldn't matter if they weren't colored line of course, but I found it confusing that they were opposite sides from the normal navigation colors.
The real question - or comment maybe - is this: On this M17, the masthead sheaves are angled slightly from true fore-aft. One pair of sheaves lines up on the aft side with the mainsail slot - for the main halyard, obviously - and is slightly to port on the fore side of the mast. The other pair of sheaves - obviously for the jib halyard - lines up with the center of the fore of the mast, and is slightly to starboard of the sail slot on the aft side of the mast.
Now I've got the green halyard coming down the starboard side - on the sheaves aligned at masthead for jib - and the red halyard coming down the port side - on the sheaves aligned at masthead for main.
The handful of other sloops I've learned to rig and sail (none were masthead rigs, I realize now) all had the main halyard starboard, jib halyard to port. Some net searching indicates there's no 'standard' but that main to starboard predominates and there may be reasons why racers prefer that. OK, no problem there.
The other issue that comes to mind is that when hove to, on starboard tack (for right of way reasons), the main halyard is on the lee side, somewhat less convenient to get at for putting in a reef.
But it seems there's nothing to be done - the masthead is the way it is. I'd either have to cross the halyards, or, have them off-center for their respective sail heads.
So, questions:
Is this the normal masthead setup for an early vintage M17?
Am I missing some simple obvious forehead-smacking detail that would make this different?
Anyone find main halyard to starboard vs. port more practical for situations like reefing hove to on starboard tack, or other considerations I've not noticed?
cheers, John S.
-- John Schinnerer - M.A., Whole Systems Design -------------------------------------------- - Eco-Living - Whole Systems Design Services People - Place - Learning - Integration john@eco-living.net - 510.982.1334 http://eco-living.net http://sociocracyconsulting.com