Do I need a topping lift?

[capnsensible]

I've used one many times on and off shuttle ships ..... problem is they need MOB to be still active - or another person in the water.

I've always been able to get a clipped on person to be able to reach down on most yachts up to around 40 feet or more. Exceptions would be high freeboard yachts like Hanse. It's great to practice with. Worth a risk on those with anything that's got a sugar scoop transom to recover from aft. But as I'm sure you know not easy in a bit of a sea.

Of course it would all be simple with a harpoon gun.

 

[Graham376]

You can use the halyard for that. Somehow I've sailed for 45 years without needing to do this though.

I need the halyard and the topping lift when I had to lift our engine out when afloat.

 

[Sharky34]

I can recommend you try my helicopter rescue strop. ??

Bet you say that to all the sailors.

 

[Travelling Westerly]

Does the OP have a roller furling main?
Does he habitually lift heavy weights with the boom?
We have MOB tackle which doesn't involve the boom, bit of a separate subject.
Many things to consider which may vary from boat to boat.

Some of the responses might beg the question, why have a strut kicker?
If you're going to have a topping lift, you don't need one and it stops you scandalising the main for RYA course brownie points....

Wow thanks for all the responses everybody. I thought it may have been a silly question and I was up for a good roasting. A lot to mull over so I wont be removing it just yet. I have used it to get up the aft of the mast once and to also support the boom whilst I removed a genset from the locker (rigged a chain block off the boom) so guess that justifies it staying for a bit longer.

I do have in mast furling so it does not impede the furling, more it just seemed useless with regards to actual sailing hence the question.

 

[Refueler]

Wow thanks for all the responses everybody. I thought it may have been a silly question and I was up for a good roasting. A lot to mull over so I wont be removing it just yet. I have used it to get up the aft of the mast once and to also support the boom whilst I removed a genset from the locker (rigged a chain block off the boom) so guess that justifies it staying for a bit longer.

I do have in mast furling so it does not impede the furling, more it just seemed useless with regards to actual sailing hence the question.

I bet soon after if you remove it - you'll want it back for a job !!

If its not hindering ... interfering ... then why remove it ?

 

[mjcoon]

I need the halyard and the topping lift when I had to lift our engine out when afloat.

Could you not trust your pattern of anchor?

 

[matt1]

All I can add is the last boat didn’t have one and as I said in the earlier post I did find the boom swaying around problematic - especially when dropping the main. Wasn’t a huge problem, although my Rigger raised an eyebrow at my purist “I don’t want a redundant topping lift flapping round the leach” but duly didn’t rig one.

fast fwd a few yrs and the current boat does have one, in association with a rod kicker, and I have to admit I don’t miss the boom being all over the place.

personal choice I guess. But I’d have one rather than not

 

[Refueler]

All I can add is the last boat didn’t have one and as I said in the earlier post I did find the boom swaying around problematic - especially when dropping the main. Wasn’t a huge problem, although my Rigger raised an eyebrow at my purist “I don’t want a redundant topping lift flapping round the leach” but duly didn’t rig one.

fast fwd a few yrs and the current boat does have one, in association with a rod kicker, and I have to admit I don’t miss the boom being all over the place.

personal choice I guess. But I’d have one rather than not

There's an old saying in the Insurance world :

Its better to have Insurance and not need it
than to need it and not have it ....

I feel similar comment can be made for a TL.

 

[dom]

Evening all.

Whats the purpose of a topping lift if you have a rod kicker with a gas strut fitted?

A topping lift serves no purpose with a properly specced strut, properly specced connections to boom and mast, and a properly specced gooseneck attachment. BUT....

All of that must be properly maintained and turning to the system specs, it's not so simple. First, one must estimate the max weight of boom, wet sail + lazy bag, etc. Next one needs to model a big rolly wave which simultaneously drops the boom vertically and builds up angular momentum as the boat rolls. Much of that will be violently transferred into a downward force at the bottom of the wave/end of the roll. A breakage at that point could potentially lead to death for anybody sitting/standing below, no question about it. Next one has to think about the strut; how much give is there in it, and by extension, at what downward force will it make contact with a crew's head?

One option in rolly conditions is to attach a main halyard to the back of the boom, but who wants to do that in waves with boom propped up high by a boom strut? People are happy swinging around on racing boats, not so many cruisers.

My advice, for that teeny squeeny bit of additional upwind drag create by additional leech turbulence, it doesn't really make sense to get rid of a topping lift on cruising vessels. Exception is of course if boat has an arch.

 

[flaming]

I haven't sailed with a topping lift for about 15 years I think.

Dad's boat had one originally, lead through an identical sheave to the main halyard and alongside it. One cruise the main halyard's sheave cracked, so we swapped the halyard onto the topping lift sheave and carried on relying on the rigid kicker. Even when the sheave was replaced over the winter we never bothered putting it back. The only thing the topping lift ever did was chafe the leach of the sail.

To me the topping lift is a hangover from the days before rigid kickers. No need with one.