Hi Gerry, Always had/have external. At rest, a bungee cord to the appropriate shroud silences them from slapping. I agree, I'd rather have them visible. If you happen to somehow have the shackle end get loose and go shooting up to the top of your mast, it is a fairly easy fix. (On our Catalina 22, I shimmied up the mast once to retrieve it. This should be avoided--I can't remember how that got loose and up the mast...must have been an error of the Admiral...couldn't have been me...:- ) . Smaller boats may give you an exciting ride from mast top to ground, dock, or water.) Perhaps internal halyards could not get loose this way? But if it did, it would look difficult to remedy on the water. Say, put a good stainless transom ladder on that boat if it doesn't have one: it is your only way back in if you fall out. The rope ones work horribly. We've had drownings here due to lack of a ladder or good steps. (Cold water) Burt Monty 12 On Fri, Mar 29, 2019 at 9:40 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