Crossing halyards inside the mast without twisting them

[merjan]

Hi, our jib halyard is exiting the mast through a sheave on the mast foot to port, and the main halyard is the same but to starboard. I would like to swap these round, so I can lead the main halyard to the port coachroof winch and the jib halyard to the starboard one.

The question is how do I ensure that the halyards don't get twisted in the mast so they don't foul each other when both are tensioned. I guess I somehow need to make sure the main halyard remains as aft possible by possibly tensioning the jib halyard (and others), but I was wondering if there some non-obvious tricks of the rigger trade. Any advice would be very much appeciated!

 

[William_H]

A difficult question as you do not know just which direction the halyards take to change from fore and aft at top to port and starboard at bottom. You may not cuase any excessive contact of halyards one to another inside mast or you may exacerbate it. I am guessing bottom exit sheaves but yopu may have exit slots well up from base of mast. Doesn't make much difference anyway. I woul;d suggest however that probably not much concern re halyards touching over the long distance of mast inside. ol'will

 

[merjan]

A difficult question as you do not know just which direction the halyards take to change from fore and aft at top to port and starboard at bottom. You may not cuase any excessive contact of halyards one to another inside mast or you may exacerbate it. I am guessing bottom exit sheaves but yopu may have exit slots well up from base of mast. Doesn't make much difference anyway. I woul;d suggest however that probably not much concern re halyards touching over the long distance of mast inside. ol'will

Thank you! Indeed I was suspecting it might not be a big issue given the length of the mast, and that was part of the advice I was after.

 

[rowlock]

For what its worth:
Nelson is attributed with the genius of rigging all his ships the same, even the ones he captured ensuring any crew could quickly and efficiently move from vessel to vessel, a winning strategy.
Convension had the main halyard reeved to starboard so that when reefing on starboard tack as right of way vessel there was less risk of needing to manoeuvre while carrying out the temporary debilitating operation and with the halyard lead to starboard the windward deck is not awash and the task easier and quicker for the crew.

 

[merjan]

For what its worth:
Nelson is attributed with the genius of rigging all his ships the same, even the ones he captured ensuring any crew could quickly and efficiently move from vessel to vessel, a winning strategy.
Convension had the main halyard reeved to starboard so that when reefing on starboard tack as right of way vessel there was less risk of needing to manoeuvre while carrying out the temporary debilitating operation and with the halyard lead to starboard the windward deck is not awash and the task easier and quicker for the crew.

That's very interesting!
I doubt he wasn't rounding racing marks to port. All boats I raced on have both the primary spinnaker halyard and jib halyard on the starboard side so they can be dealt without crew going down to the leeward side of the boat. This could be my winning strategy if I ever capture crew from other boats I race on.

 

[Daydream believer]

Does the mast have any foam inside to stop the halyards from slapping? A club member has just lost his topping lift up the mast & retrieval seems to be hampered by a foam block inside. So much so, that he is going to purchase a boom strut instead.

 

[merjan]

Does the mast have any foam inside to stop the halyards from slapping? A club member has just lost his topping lift up the mast & retrieval seems to be hampered by a foam block inside. So much so, that he is going to purchase a boom strut instead.

I don't know if it does have any foam inside. It's a Kemp one. However after restepping the mast, the jib halyard got mysteriously stuck on something inside, and only came free with brute force. That might explain it.

 

[Dantp]

Our kemp mast has foam blocks inside.
I don't have good suggestions for your question though.