Gaff cutter rigging

[cliffordpope]

Hello,
I'm a new member here, having only just found this wonderful forum.
I have been rebuilding an ancient gaff cutter for about 10 years now, mostly in the evenings. I am now at the stage of doing the rigging, and have a number of questions all to do with clearance between rigging and moving spars:

1) Throat and peak halliards. These originally led down to sheeves on the tabernacle, and then back to the cockpit. The upper blocks hang on boltsters on the aft face of the mast, exactly as per the standard books. But the downhaul then fouls the gaff crutch, especially as it swings round. Everything I read simply describes the halliards as belaying at the foot of the mast, or for easy sailing, running along the coach roof. I have looked at other boats, and cannot see how they manage to avoid this problem.
All I can think of is either taking the downhauls down at an angle, to blocks at the corner of the coach roof, or via another block hanging from underneath the crosstrees. I don't see other boats rigged like this though.

2) Forestay etc clearing top mast. John Leather shows the forestay having a long bight, hooked round the lower mast, wide enough so as not to pinch the top mast. That seems OK, but the bight has to be quite long.
Similarly, the strop for the staysail halliard block. But the length of bight necessary would put the block about 2' or more away from the mast. That puts the halliard pull at an angle, which would spoil the set of the top of the sail because it hanks on the forestay, .and also would limit the height of the sail.
The same consideration applies to the jib halliard block. I want to set the jib flying, on a traveller on the bowsprit with Wykeham-Martin furler. This seems to work quite well, apart again from the arrangement at the top.
I am wondering about using a strop of wire with a span shackle to spread the width at the forward end.

3) Top mast forestay. How should this attach to the end of the bowsprit? Should its length be pre-set, so that when the bowsprit is run out it exactly takes up the right tension? That might make it difficult to get the pin through the bitts. Or should it have a tackle on the end? Or be of flexible wire and lead back to deck via a pulley on the end of the bowsprit?

4) Backstay runners. Is it normal to have separate main and topmast backstays, or can these be combined part-way up?

5) The double topping lifts join on the downhaul on the mast, and a single rope then leads back along to the cockpit. I am considering adding another split, like a lazyjack, to improve control of the sail as it is lowered (boom overhangs the counter by about 2'). Are these just knotted, or do they have little blocks or bullseyes of some sort to distribute the weight?

Many thanks if anyone can make any suggestions.

 

[cliffordpope]

Sorry, silly typo error there - I meant gaff "jaws" of course, not crutch. The point is that the wooden traditional kind project quite a long way each side of the mast, so foul any halliards nearby.

 

[Peterduck]

Now most folk don't seem to worry about the halyard downhauls rubbing on the gaff jaws. It certainly doesn't seem to matter on my old gaffer. If it bothers you, you could fashion a couple of pieces to attach to the mast sides above the highest point which the jaws reach, which could keep the downhaul away from the mast.
The forestay could be treated similarly. The soft eye in the upper end of the inner forestay has to rest on bolsters to prevent it from sliding down the mast. Why not make stepped bolsters, which hold the forestay away from the mast? By the way, a Flemish eye splice is a quite neat way to form the long soft eye.
There seem to be a number of eways to attach the topmast forestay to the end of the bowsprit, and I'll leave this one for one of the correspondents from the "Easy-cosy", where such things are common.
Topping lift lazy jacks. I simply spliced the two ends of the lazy jacks into the topping lifts. The lazy jacks go under the boom and it all works.
Can't help you with the backstays for a housing topmast, as I only have a pole mast.
Peter.

 

[cliffordpope]

Thanks Peter.
Interesting observation that most people don't mind the gaff rubbing on the halliards. I have always thought that it was good practice to try and eliminate this kind of thing whenever possible, especially, as here, where it will be rubbing on the same section of rope every time.
It is more than just rubbing, actually. If you think that the upper throat block hangs just behind the mast, the downhaul will be slightly to one side (half a sheeve diameter off-centre) but then has to cross the line of the gaff jaws to the foot of the mast.
When I last sailed the boat the jaws would jamb inside this rope, putting a severe strain on it when the gaff paid out, and also needing a strong tug to free it when lowering the sail. That spoiled the point of having the halliards in the cockpit.
I see your point about fitting a bit of wood to spread the halliard away from the jaws, but that would then introduce a new point of friction, albeit not so bad.
It just seems extraordinary that after hundreds of years of development this basic flaw in the gaff set-up hasn't been addressed. I have only looked at it because I am re-rigging from scratch. Like most people I would probably just have accepted it otherwise.
I'll try and look more closely at other old boats - there's a lovely old Lowerstoft trawler moored here in Cardigan.

 

[Mirelle]

We have wooden jaws; you will probably find that you don't have a problem.

The throat and peak halyards come from the aft side of the mast; there is only a problem if they get foul of the horms of the jaws and bear on the parrel line; this hardly ever happens and is almost impossible unless you do something quite extraordinary.

The topmast forestay should go to a tackle if the bowsprit is a running one.

Do not combine preventer backstays and runners anywhere above the deck, the mast will bend in an S shape if you do, as either leg can straighten out.

Are you sure that you need both? Preventers are usually only needed if you carry a jib topsail.

Take a look at this site for answers to your other questions - there are some excellent photographs of mast head and topmast arrangements and jib and staysail halyard blocks.

 

[snowleopard]

I can help with the topmast forestay issue: make the stay a fixed length. A bit of play in the mountings will allow you to get the pin in, then put tension on it by means of a tackle at the outer end of the bobstay.

 

[Mirelle]

PS - Running bowsprits

We have one.

Bobstay is a chain going to a tackle, fall led inboard through bulwarks port side.

Topmast stay goes to tackle, fall led inboard starboard side (no rule about this that I know of, but most boats seem to have them this way round)

The shrouds are just made up with a few turns of small stuff; no tackles, so no adjustment.

I can usually shove the bowsprit out with the heel of my boot and get the fid in like that, but can rig a heel rope to the windlass, case need. It helps to use a good deal of tallow on the covering of the gammon iron.

Very handy if you ever go into a marina.

 

[kestrel1891]

Kestrel's halyards have a tendency to catch in the front of the saddle, probably sine the pinrail is forward of the mast. The trick seems to be to flick the halyard behind the saddle once the sail is up but before hardening up. Once in the right place they seem to stay there, even when the gaff is squared right off.
The forestay is light wire for most of its length but with a rope tail which passes through a block on the end of the bowsptrit. The end is made off on a cleat on the heel of the bowsprit. This helps when reefing the bowsprit as once the fid is out you pull on the rope tail and the spar glides gently aft. It also help support the end when setting the spar. As I have a Wykeham Martin set to close to the top of a pole mast the forestay doesn't do anything once the sail is up, the inner forstay to the stemhead does most of the work. You do need to keep it tight though otherwise it can get wound up in the jib.

Can you tell us some more about Xenia - she sounds very interesting.

 

[cliffordpope]

Thanks for those replies - certainly lots of thoughts to be mulling over this winter. The boat is in a barn while I work on interior fitting out and then generally finishing off. I plan to wheel it out next spring and get the mast and rigging set up.
I still can't see how to stop the throat halliard fouling the gaff jaws.
Viewing from astern, the upper block hangs in the centre on the after face of the mast. The downhaul starts just a fraction to one side of the centre line, and then goes down and belays (say) somewhere at the foot of the mast. That line has to cross the vertical somewhere, so there is a long tapered wedge of space which the jaws move up. At some point they are bound to jamb, and be impossible to hoist any further. The only way of avoiding that is if the downhaul went INSIDE the jaws, which is ridiculous and obviously inviting failure from friction.

My "perfect" solution is to have a double block on an eye bolted in line with the after line of the mast near the corner of the cabin roof. Then the throat halliard would go through the inner sheeve, the peak through the outer, and both along the roof to separate cleats. As the tackle ratios are the same, they could be hauled up together keeping the gaff angle constant, then finallyadjusted separately.

I think I'll try the fixed-length forestay idea first, tightening by the bowsprit bobstay tackle. I'd like to keep it all as simple as possible.

Backstays. I may have the terminology wrong. I mean the slackenable stays that support the mast from behind. I mounted the chainplates as per John Leather - half way between the mast and the rudder post. They support the main mast at the hounds, set up with tackles that can be freed right off when on the other tack. They don't unhook - just fly loose but can be triced in to the bottom of the main shrouds.
The top mast at present has only shrouds passing through the crosstrees . So there is no support at all from behind. Surely they need some kind of backstay, which would have to be released when changing tack? Hence my question about combining them. I see the argument why not - twisting the mast- so that means I need 4 moveable stays in all? Or would it be good enough just to have fixed topmast shrouds mounted a few feet aft of the main shrouds, and accept that the boom might touch them when running?

 

[Wansworth]

Runners,best advice keep looking at other properly rigged gaffers.

 

[Mirelle]

Throat halyard, and preventer backstays

Throat halyard:

From your description, it sounds as if you may not have enough drift. There should be at least a foot, better, a couple of feet, of drift between the upper and lower throat halyard blocks, with the mainsail hoisted. They should never come "two blocks".

If you have enough drift, the fall, which leads, of course, from the upper block to the deck, may touch the jaws but it certainly won't come to harm.

Preventer backstays.

The backstays that go to the lowermast head are called runners. These, you probably need, although quite a few working boats manage without them.

The backstays that go to the topmast head are called preventers. These, you don't need if you are just carrying a topsail on the topmast. the reason is that the topsail pulls mainly aft and athwartship. If you carry a jib topsail on the topmast forestay then you need preventers. Frankly, its not worth the hassle.