In the book "Sensible Cruising: The Thoreau Approach" by Don Casey and Lew Hackler tey have some great advice on how to handle the 'anxiety' of so many different ways to rig a boat, and if you should swap over to whatever is currently most popular or not. "However your boat was rigged when you got it- that's the one for you" (paraphrasing). If you don't have a strong reason to think one system is much better than another for your purposes, in most cases it will be about a wash, with different trade-offs to each that cancel out. I found this philosophy relaxing, that every time I get an old sailboat with external halyards ran to cleats on the mast, I don't need to replace it with internal halyards ran to the cockpit before I can go enjoy sailing... Sincerely, Tyler ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Schinnerer" <john@eco-living.net> To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Friday, March 29, 2019 12:15:56 PM Subject: Re: M_Boats: new mast for M17; run halyards inside or out?
On Mar 29, 2019, at 6:39 AM, Gerry Lempicki via montgomery_boats <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> wrote:
Hi all,I am getting a new mast for my Montgomery 17 from Dwyer. One of the options is to use a new single slot masthead with 2 sheaves, which would allow running halyards down inside the mast. Another would be to use the two slot 4 sheave as in the original. Thoughts? Any pros or cons one way or the other?Thanks!-Gerry
Just my subjective thoughts...in favor of the OEM external halyards... I like having the halyards all visible. Any fraying, wear, tear, etc. is readily noticed. Simple and less drag with external halyards - just the sheaves at the masthead. No mast exit ports/sheaves or other additional hardware or routing adding friction anywhere. Seems simpler to repair/replace external halyards, especially if some emergency repair needed on the water. I imagine that the halyards would slap the inside of the mast while bobbing at anchor/mooring/slip, similar to any electrical wiring run inside the mast. So, more sleep-disturbing noises if you're sleeping aboard. Tricks I've heard of to silence internal mast wiring could not be used for halyards and could also not be used on wiring (if any) if the halyards were internal. Never had a boat with internal halyards so not sure what the benefits might be. Half the halyard gets way less sun exposure...and...?? 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