Here's some pics of my main halyard to cockpit setup on my M17. Didn't get her in the water yet after all so the mast is not stepped. I put a line thru the setup as though it were the halyard coming off the mast. A bungee cord out of sight in the photos gives it a bit of tension so it looks realistic enough. Kevin I sent this to you direct also, let me know if the pics come thru. Pretty simple - turning block attached to mast tabernacle, then to cheek block on cabin top, then to cam cleat at rear edge of cabin. The blocks and the eye strap are all Racelite - inexpensive, USA made, quality and sturdy stainless, good enough to do the job at a budget price. I get Racelite hardware from Duckworks.com. The cam cleat is a Ronstan. You could spend 2-3x as much on fancier ball bearing blocks, maybe larger diameter also, and have a bit less friction. I do not have any issues with the small added friction from this setup when raising the main. Especially as I am pulling horizontally from a strong position in the cockpit. My turning block is attached near front edge of my tabernacle to minimize any possible interference with mast raising or base of mast when stepped. My tabernacle has the bolt slot closer to the rear of it, and so the mast sits at the rear of the tabernacle when raised, with some clear space in front. The halyard comes down thru a flared eye strap on the mast, which I think is about six feet above the mast base. It was already there for the old cleat-on-mast setup. I re-positioned it a bit more forward on the mast for the slight change of angle on the halyard going to the block instead of the cleat-on-mast. I gather there has been some variation in tabernacles over the years (mine is 1974) so others may be different design and work best with the turning block in a different location. One could also mount that block to cabin top instead of tabernacle. I prefer tabernacle since it is already rock solid mounted to cabin top, and then the pull on the block strap is on the tabernacle and thus against the mast, instead of pulling up on the cabin top adjacent to tabernacle. Plus, less holes in cabin top means less possible leaks. Especially if you have the balsa core on later models you don't want extra holes in cabin top. If you did mount it to cabin top you'd want a backing plate on the underside to spread the stress; you might also want a stand-up block (spring block) in that case to avoid fouling when slack. My turning block stays vertically aligned even when the halyard is slack because of how it's mounted (with a vertical eye strap just barely smaller than the block strap opening). cheers, John -- 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
