How to get a brand new halyard rigged if the old one is removed?

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steve yates

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I had to remove my spinny halyard (which was never used and was a spare) on my 18 footer as it had wrapped round the forestay. Not an issue right now, but I have got a spinnaker and one of this springs projects was to rig it and learn to use it. Plus I like the idea of a spare halyard for emergencies. So how are halyrads reeved i to a new mast from scratch? I'm presuming the mast has to come down to do this, (and I could replace sheaves at the same time) but it would be useful if it is acheivable with the mast up. It might be possible come jan that her mast head is more or less level with pierside mooring at low tides, as I dont fancy my wieght(14st) up the mast of such a small boat.
 
Poke the weighted end of a light line through the sheave and allow it to carry the line to the base of the mast. Retrieve the line with a wire hook, magnet, etc. through the halyard exit.

Do you have many halyards, cables, etc. in the mast?
 
Try dropping a weighted thin line down over the top of the masthead pulley and fishing it out at the bottom only problem could be that it will get crossed with another halyard inside the mast but it's worth a go.
 
If you are on a pontoon you should be able to use the existing halyard to pull the mast over until you can reach the top. (obviously depends on the ballast and design of the boat and clearance to the side). Climbing the mast if you are 14st would probably have the same effect!
I did this quite sucessfully on a corribee to clean the barnacles off the bottom before moving her.
 
reeving a new halyard in a mast for an 18fter?

I had this exact problem - drop the mast, easily done with two folk on that size of boat. carry mast to be under a suitable balcony. Have one person at bottom of mast, other up on the balcony feeding fishing wire with weight down. Tip for extra prizes - use a Harbourside cafe with a balcony you end up with a cheer when successful from your audience and also cake an coffee on hand.
 
for my 20 footer I used to drop the mast alone quite comfortably. Make sure you have a decent and strong frame to catch it tied to the boat. You can use wire to push through the length of the mast (or better, a fish wire Steel Draw Tape with Reel 15m (50ft)) and pull the mouse line with that which will then pull the rope.

make sure you whip a loop for mousing on all your halyards too

jimmy-green-halyard-tail-whipping-finish.jpg
 
I have the same problem, with a 28ft boat.
I'm hoping to pull all the existing halyards to one side in the mast, heel the boat the other way and hope that the mouse line won't wrap around anything inside the mast.
For a smaller boat it may be easier to drop the mast, unless there is a convenient tall object to stand on.
 
I'd like to point out that the righting moment at the mast head of an 18 footer can be expressed in single digits. You may want to take swimming lessons in a wet suit before attempting an ascent.
Find a high dock, bridge or mast tower to thread your halyard.
 
pandos said:
A bunch of small nuts threaded onto a thin line makes a great weight for dropping down into the mast...
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Exactly what I did many years ago on my old Southerly 95. I used a few nuts to give sufficient weight to easily pull in the line as I fed it over the sheave. I used pretty small nuts and made certain they would come through the exit point on the mast.

Norman_E said:
Getting it out through the halyard slot is easy if before dropping the weighted line you carefully feed a long cable tie through the slot so that it forms a big loop inside the mast with both ends stuck out. Drop the weighted line and pull out the cable tie with the line through it.
Click to expand...

Again, exactly what I did and a very long cable tie could be forced into a large loop inside. It was a little awkward to keep the shape initially. I think I heated the cable tie with very hot water and formed a loop around a plastic drain-pipe. The cable tie set with a natural curve close to the mast shape and that seemed to help.

I'm pretty light an no problem with stability on a Southerly 95. I did climb a Hurley 20 mast once and it was OK until someone came aboard via the side deck beside the mast. I think my screams persuaded them to get off again pretty quickly. It don't think I'd try it on a much lighter, smaller boat.

It is a lot easier to persuade a line down a mast when it is vertical. You could try feeding in the heaviest weight plus pile of very light line whilst horizontal. Two people should be able to raise a small mast, catch the line coming from the base and lower the mast again.
 
I have used 3mm strimmer string as a mouse down the mast before now, it serves a similar purpose to an electricians snake and can be done either with the mast up or down.
I have a friend who had a small hand held crossbow from which he shot a bolt with a line attached down the mast whilst it was down and horizontal on trestles, but he had to remove the mast top plate to gain a straight access, Not sure it’s a recommended method but it did work.
 
steve yates said:
Spinny halyard wrapped round the forestay
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Is there any movement in the Spinny halyard at all?
Assuming that you can get your hands on both ends of the Spinny halyard and if the foresail halyard is operational, shackle the foresail halyard up at the stem head, slacken the backstay a little and tension the foresail halyard.
Slacken and undo the forestay, then provided that the Spinny halyard isn't snagged on the forestay you should be able to unwrap it.
 
LadyInBed said:
Is there any movement in the Spinny halyard at all?
Assuming that you can get your hands on both ends of the Spinny halyard and if the foresail halyard is operational, shackle the foresail halyard up at the stem head, slacken the backstay a little and tension the foresail halyard.
Slacken and undo the forestay, then provided that the Spinny halyard isn't snagged on the forestay you should be able to unwrap it.
Click to expand...
Thanks but too late, I just removed the whole thing.
 
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