halyard back to boom end or not?

[Burnham Bob]

My boat has boomkicker struts instead of a topping lift. The previous owner always took the main halyard back to the boom end rather than leaving it attached to the sail.

I've always done the same without thinking. Now I've had to replace the halyard because the outer braiding is beginning to fray very slightly where it goes over the sheave when it's parked at the boom end. A friend tells me I haven't been tightening it enough and the wind making it move has caused the fraying. I'm sure he's right.

On my previous boat which had a topping lift I always took the halyard down under the gooseneck reefing horns so I could tighten it without raising the sail.

I think I'll go back to doing that with the new halyard - unless forumites can tell me why it's a good idea to take the halyard off the sail and take it back to the boom end?

 

[ProDave]

The only good reason I can think of for parking halyards away from the mast, is to stop the noise of the halyard tapping against the mast in strong wind. The dinghy park at our club is close to housing and they request parked dinghies do this.

 

[Robin]

End of boom and tight against the mainsheet tension, or the whole thing can move about. Halyards should not be left attached to the sail IMO or they will rattle against the mast and also 'worry' away at the sail and/or sail cover causing chafe.

 

[VicS]

One of the cabin top hand rails is a good place to park a halyard to keep it away from the mast.

 

[rivonia]

There is nothing quite so annoying as a FRAPPING halyard. Do not fix it to the sail or to the gooseneck but fix it away from the mast and the end of the boom is ideal with a very tight tension on it.

Peter

 

[Conachair]

There is nothing quite so annoying as a FRAPPING halyard. Do not fix it to the sail or to the gooseneck but fix it away from the mast and the end of the boom is ideal with a very tight tension on it.

Peter

One thing about marinas where there are liveaboards, they're always nice and quiet never a frapping halyard.

Mine lives on the guardrails next to a shroud.

 

[l'escargot]

There is nothing quite so annoying as a FRAPPING halyard. Do not fix it to the sail or to the gooseneck but fix it away from the mast and the end of the boom is ideal with a very tight tension on it.

Peter

Frapping is the act of tying or lashing the halyard back to stop it making the noise, so Frapping should actually stop the annoyance.

 

[johnalison]

Different boats need different solutions. There is nowhere very convenient on the coachroof for my halyard, so I take mine to the boom end, where the shackle joins that of the topping-lift. One advantage of this is that I can take the weight of the boom on the wire halyard and slacken the braid topping-lift which developes a resonance in light winds and hums loudly, a noise that was curiously hard to trace at first.

 

[LadyInBed]

Mine lives on the guardrails next to a shroud.

Mine too.

 

[doug748]

Frapping is the act of tying or lashing the halyard back to stop it making the noise, so Frapping should actually stop the annoyance.

Shame really, because frapping is so onomatopoeic, particularly at low windspeeds.

Frap, Frap, Frap.

 

[johnalison]

It seems you have to get to the 5th item in the Urban Dictionary to get a nautical definition of "frap". Some of the others surprised me.
http://http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=frap

 

[rivonia]

Frapping is the act of tying or lashing the halyard back to stop it making the noise, so Frapping should actually stop the annoyance.

Thanks for the info. We never stop learning. However I shall continue to call it "FRAPPING" as eveyone I talk to in my years of sailing immediatly knows what I mean by "FRAPPING". What about a "FRAPPE" a drink?

Hey-Ho

Peter

 

[dt4134]

Shame really, because frapping is so onomatopoeic, particularly at low windspeeds.

Frap, Frap, Frap.

I've always called it slatting when the halyard slats against the mast, which I guess is onomatopoeic too.

 

[smeaks]

I always keep the halyard at the boom end away from the mast ever since I had to replace a halyard because it had worn where it had chaffed against the spreaders.

 

[Grumpybear]

I move mine because the wind makes the topping lift flutter, which causes the boom to emit a noise like an organ pipe. Adding the halyard changes the resonances so the boom stops moaning.

 

[theforeman]

........ What about a "FRAPPE" a drink?.......
Peter

that`s jolly decent of you, i`ll have a large glenmorangie thanks.

 

[charles_reed]

"Frapping" in its original context meant to bind round with rope, generally the hull of a vessel to prevent the seams opening.
The 1913 OEP gave this definition solely.

Subsequent to this the word has developed a number of meanings - most recently as another euphemism for coitus.

The one which has never gained wide acceptance is that describing the the sound made by a taut halyard against a mast. I suspect it is a yottie-only derivation - usage makes one, no doubt, a member of of the inner circle but liable to gain some queer looks from the younger generation.

PS Frappé is, of course, the past tense of the French verb frapper to beat - in English the association is usually as the gerund. Etymologically the word used by yotties probably derives from that. Now why don't we use foc instead of jib?

 

[Seajet]

I would tend to think the previous owner may have put the halliard on the boom end for 2 reasons, to keep it away from the mast and to take some strain off the boomkicker.

 

[William_H]

Tieing down Boom

One thing to be wary off when tightening the boom down with mainsheet against a halyard or topping lift is that if the main sheet is on a traveler system this also needs to be secured very tightly. I found that with rocking of waves from the side the traveler car was constantly being moved a little back and forth. After some years the traveler car wheels were worn out. Now I lower the boom with mainsail attached onto the cabin roof. It looks untidy but is very stable. The main halyard of wire remains attached to the main top and tends to sit away from the mast with cover on. so no "frapping" "flapping" "banging" or whatever we call that anoying noise. olewill

 

[PerformanceSailor]

And the answer is...

I would tend to think the previous owner may have put the halliard on the boom end for 2 reasons, to keep it away from the mast and to take some strain off the boomkicker.

And that's a real good answer.
Expanding on your Reasons:
1) Secure the halyard away from the mast to prevent banging and chafe.
2) Secure it to the end of the boom to provide up force to counter the down force when you tighten up the mainsheet.
3) Having the support all the way out at the end prevents an accidental bend in the boom when someone put their full weight on the end and causes a bend where the rod vang is attached.
4) Due to the compression of the springs (glass rods in your kicker) the boom will wander a lot from side to side even when the main sheet is tight. The halyard pulling up makes the boom stay where you want it.

We have owned a boat with a rod vang since 1995. In general, had I realized how nice this feature was, I would have replaced the soft vang on our prior 26 footer in a heartbeat...

LB