Rick, I have a wire jib halyard (rope on one end, wire on the other) and the sheave looks to be aluminum. Although the sheave is small, it never occurred to me that it would give up under this type of load, and it is fine so far. Truth be told, I only use the jib halyard for mast raising because I have a furler, so I could dedicate a 1/4" line from the mast head to the mast padeye for mast raising, and eliminate one of the clanking halyards. On the other hand, it is dandy to have a jib halyard on standby, in case the headstay should pop loose (unlikely as that might be). Tom M-17 #626 On May 27, 2011, at 1:44 PM, John Davies wrote:
Tom,
The 4 part tackle raised above the deck level is a great idea. I guess the higher you can secure it above the mast step level the better. I have rope/wire halyards and wondered about the strain on the wire sheave at the masthead under the full weight of the mast/furler rig? Do you have rope halyards?
Rick M-17 #633 Lynne L
-- Sent from my Palm Pre On May 27, 2011 1:57 PM, Tom Jenkins <tjenk@gte.net> wrote:
I have enjoyed the comments inspired my Mark's email; lots of good
experience out there.
I raise my 17 mast with a 4-part tackle attached to a ring on the
trailer upright about a foot above the bow pulpit, and to the jib
halyard (cleated off). The free line on the tackle reaches to the
cockpit so I can pull with my left hand and raise the mast about head
height with my right hand. No problem from there, because I leave
the shrouds and backstay attached, and the tackle has plenty of
power. I tension the mast with the tackle until I can pin the
furling headstay, then tighten the backstay turnbuckle, which was
loosened a bit to free the furler last time around.
My IdaSailor mast crutch starts the mast pretty high, but there will
come a day when I will not want to raise the mast that last foot or
two by hand. I am working on a 1" PVC crutch to solve this problem.
Ideally, I think one hand should be dedicated to sway control if
possible, although I am considering a set of pre-cut stabilizing
"shrouds" from handrails to spreaders for those windy days.
Obviously there is a problem with this system when the boat is
launched from a sling with the mast down, so I fasten the tackle to a
free hole in the stem fitting, and lift the mast a little higher to
start. Next time in, I am going to lash to the pulpit and not lift
so much.
As for the time it takes to rig and unrig the boat, I find most of it
is spent gazing at the scenery and chatting with folks in the parking
lot. There are worse ways to spend one's time.
Tom Jenkins
M17 Scintilla
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