Halliard diverter question

[chriscallender]

Hi,

My mast is being stepped on Wednesday with a new roller reefing unit. On my old roller, the genoa "halliard" was a stainless wire rope which went over a block at the top of the roller.

New reefing system uses a halliard on the mast. I have a masthead rig, so I am wondering if I still need to use the halliard diverter, since it seems to me that the halliard comes out of the mast in about the right place and there isn't too much diverting to be done, unlike a fractional rig.

However, I imagine that the halliard is likely to snag round the roller - I've had this happen with spinnaker halliards when I've kept a little bit of genoa out whilst I hoisted the spinnaker, than rolled the gennoa in. Do I still need to make use of the diverter to stop this?

Also, I assume that I need to use a swivel shackle between the halliard and the genoa, so that the halliard doesn't twist too much when I roll in the sail?

Just trying to get it right before I step the mast, to save me a trip up there to sort things out!

Thanks for any advice.

Chris

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[charles_reed]

<However, I imagine that the halliard is likely to snag round the roller - I've had this happen with spinnaker halliards when I've kept a little bit of genoa out whilst I hoisted the spinnaker, than rolled the gennoa in. Do I still need to make use of the diverter to stop this?>

The answer to your own question - that's precisely why a diverter is necessary.
Whether or not the boat has a fractional rig is irrelevant.

Suggest you use a reverse block or you'll get chafe at the diverter edge.

You can find the very thing in the Seasure catalogue.

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[vyv_cox]

Not quite sure if this is your question, but here's my two-penn'orth. The purpose of the diverter fairlead is to ensure that the halliard forms an angle of 30 degrees or so with the forestay when the jib is hoisted to its normal position. Failure to have this will cause the halliard to wrap around the forestay and unravel it, possibly causing a rig failure. It is important if using a smaller sail to ensure that a strop is fitted to the tack end to retain this angle.

There is not normally a swivel in genoa halliards. The sail rolls between the upper and lower bearings such that the upper connection on the top bearing and the lower connection on the bottom one are fixed, whereas the lower (head) on the upper bearing and the upper on the lower bearing (tack) are connected to the sail and foil, so are free to rotate. If you see what I mean. Easier with a picture.

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[chriscallender]

Thanks for the replies - I had a look rollers and divertors in some catalogues at lunchtime and I think I understand now, Vyv your explanation makes sense OK without pictures! Before looking at the catalogues I didn't understand how the top bearing worked, I've never had one with a fancy top bearing on either of my boats!

Anyway probably a case of RTFM for the reefing gear, just I left that on the boat in a big box of goodies that the riggers left me.

Think anyway I'll just have the mast stepped on Wednesday, see what the angles look like and then figure out what hardware I need - strops for the various genoas, diverters etc.


Thanks


Chris

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