correct way to attach a gaff mainsail

[lilianroyle]

how and to what should the throat thimble be attached (gaff or mast). I have always shackled it to the gaff (to an attachment probably there for a tricing line block ) treating it in effect as the first lacing eye for the gaff but shackled rather than laced. I use masthoops. Thanking you in advance Mirelle.
Pete

 

[Mirelle]

Infinite variety, probably! I think we need a drawing or three!

The block might have been there for a topsail sheet, perhaps?

We have old fashioned wooden jaws, which have a hole in them each side of the gaff; and we lash them to that, with the sort of square lashing that you use for mast hoops.

Metal saddles usually have an eye fitting.

The only critical point is that, if the throat eye is not vertically underneath the throat halyard attachment, and mounted so that it can pivot, if you then ease the peak once the main is hoisted without first easing the throat, the gaff can act as a lever and put an unfair strain on the luff of the sail.

I seem to remember that Moray McPhail goes into this on the Classic Marine website.

 

[Peterduck]

I have a substantial bar of stainless steel [about 1" x 1/4"] which lies behind the tumbler and between the jaws. It pivots on a horizontal bolt through the gaff jaws, so that it stays parallel to the mast, no matter what the angle of the gaff. The hole in the top of the bar [ie above the gaff] is shackled to the throat halyard, and the hole under the gaff is shackled to the throat cringle. The tension from the throat halyard goes straight along the bar to the throat cringle without involving the gaff at all. Yes, my gaff lacing starts here.
Peter.

 

[cliffordpope]

Surely it has to attach to the gaff, otherwise it wouldn't be possible to pull it tight at the peak?

 

[Peterduck]

Yes, Clifford, it does, in that the 6" x 1" x 1/4" bar to which the throat cringle is shackled pivots on a horizontal bolt through the gaff jaws. It sits in a vertical slot through the gaff behind the tumbler.
Peter.