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

Another odd thought - if the halyard entry or exit is restricted, a short bit of bicycle chain can sometimes be wormed in round the bend.

I've even done that with my flagpole, using a fishing rod to reach up to the pulley.
 
Lightwave395 said:
I had the same problem on my boat, I bought an '20m long electricians snake' on ebay for a few £'s and it worked a treat

20 metre Nylon Electricians Draw Tape / Snake / Fish Wire 5020837275339 | eBay
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I strongly recommend the type I linked over these nylon ones. The one I linked comes out straight and can be pushed against whereas these nylon ones are anything but straight and will bend rather than move forwards. I bought one first and then bought the proper one which did the job. Should have known ?
 
I would concur with the suggestion to heel the boat onto its beam ends by hauling it sidewaysusing the other halyards. Dropping the mast is a bit of a faff, as is getting the rigging tensions right when re-stepping it. A moored fishing vessel or small ship might allow tou to come alongside and access the top of the mast at the highest point of their deck. Bring a boathook to pull the masthead towards you.
I once sorted a halyard problem on a 5,70m boat by going alongside the local inter-island ro-ro ferry, and I have witnessed a similar boat heeled being over by pulling the masthead with a motorboat while tied fore and aft to two moorings, in order to get hold of a halyard that I had allowed to go to the masthead.
 
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Make life easier... piece of string , colour unimportant. Tied to end of snake / wire/ what ever. Send down mast till it stops. Vacuum cleaner with appropriate reduction setup ... bingo . OK still need to get up the mast though. Easier than fiddling with chain etc.
 
No doubt in my mind that OP must get organised to remove the mast. Climbing the mast is just not possible.
I have done self righting test on my 21 fter. takes about 40 or 50kg on halyard to pull the mast to about 45 degrees from there around 30kg to hold the mast horizontal. So climbing would be crazy. Actually you won't get far up before boats loses stability and rolls so you scare yourself silly.
I would not recommend trying to feed a mouse line in while holding mast down. Just too rushed .
Look at descriptions of mast lowering on this forum. A little bit of gear and it is easy. Well worth being able to do it even if orgainsed while under way. You will always need access to mast top.
Re actually getting mouse line in. I found easiest is to dismantle fittings from mast like top and base. Always good for maintenance and corrosion protection and use existing halyards as a mouse line to take mouse line down to bottom or up to top. I do it mast horizontal. Just be careful halyards do not twist around one another. or you can use old rigging wire to feed in to mast. good luck ol'will
 
Pull all other halyards as tight as possible. Then drop mouse line down mast interior, If all other halyards are tight and their drop is sensible, so not crossing within the mast the you should not get crossovers.

I hope the wiring is in a conduit :)

Don't climb the mast - bridge, balcony, another large mast near by, dry out alongside a pier with big tides - but ideally you want the mast vertical. Take the mast out, orange against a building, house, mansion, castle - depends on your living accomodation :) , arrange mast to be vertical drop weight mouse line down.

The other option is to take an adjacent laird, remove with 2 mouse lines - one to replace halyard you remove and the other for the new halyard.

So much choice :(

Jonathan
 
If you decide to haul the masthead down, rather than dismast, attach the spinnaker halyard to one of the existing halyards and then use that to pull it through. You can do that while the boat is still horizontal . It's unlikely to twist up inside but even if it did 1 twist won't cause any trouble as long as there are no splices etc in the halyards.
If that doesn't appeal then, with the boat still careened , use a hosepipe to wash the mouse down the mast
 
Neeves said:
Pull all other halyards as tight as possible. Then drop mouse line down mast interior, If all other halyards are tight and their drop is sensible, so not crossing within the mast the you should not get crossovers.

I hope the wiring is in a conduit :)

Don't climb the mast - bridge, balcony, another large mast near by, dry out alongside a pier with big tides - but ideally you want the mast vertical. Take the mast out, orange against a building, house, mansion, castle - depends on your living accomodation :) , arrange mast to be vertical drop weight mouse line down.

The other option is to take an adjacent laird, remove with 2 mouse lines - one to replace halyard you remove and the other for the new halyard.

So much choice :(

Jonathan
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He'll have to bring the boat to Scotland to access the adjacent laird:)
 
William_H said:
No doubt in my mind that OP must get organised to remove the mast. Climbing the mast is just not possible.
I have done self righting test on my 21 fter. takes about 40 or 50kg on halyard to pull the mast to about 45 degrees from there around 30kg to hold the mast horizontal. So climbing would be crazy. Actually you won't get far up before boats loses stability and rolls so you scare yourself silly.
I would not recommend trying to feed a mouse line in while holding mast down. Just too rushed .
Look at descriptions of mast lowering on this forum. A little bit of gear and it is easy. Well worth being able to do it even if orgainsed while under way. You will always need access to mast top.
Re actually getting mouse line in. I found easiest is to dismantle fittings from mast like top and base. Always good for maintenance and corrosion protection and use existing halyards as a mouse line to take mouse line down to bottom or up to top. I do it mast horizontal. Just be careful halyards do not twist around one another. or you can use old rigging wire to feed in to mast. good luck ol'will
Click to expand...
A winch on a nearby boat could be used to haul the masthead down and hold it. Alternatively, if the end of the halyard is made fast to a shoreside cleat in the right place, a winch on the boat itself could be used. Yet another alternative is to use a 4-1 purchase, on the end of the halyard.
 
Graham376 said:
, hoist a skinny kid up with a mouse line.
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I do not think that you are allowed to hoist skinny kids on mouse lines any more. That stopped when gas flues came in & they did away with sweeping chimneys using kids, as they were inclined to get stuck.
As for dropping the line from a dockside one needs to be careful. A friend of mine borrowed a Squib for an open at Lowestoft. The crew pulled the spinney halyard through the mast. So they put the boat against a pontoon & pulled the top of the mast over to the quay, using the main halyard.
The mast broke :unsure:
The owner was none to pleased as it was a lightweight mast no longer available. On top of that my friend had to finish the week wearing a pink " Dick of the Week" jacket. He has since bought his own new Squib.As well as a new mast for the other Squib

At our club we lift the mast off ( 2 people) & place it against the club bridge. Then a piece of cycle chain on a length of whipping twine & much shaking normally helps.
 
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Daydream believer said:
I do not think that you are allowed to hoist skinny kids on mouse lines any more. That stopped when gas flues came in & they did away with sweeping chimneys using kids, as they were inclined to get stuck.
As for dropping the line from a dockside one needs to be careful. A friend of mine borrowed a Squib for an open at Lowestoft. The crew pulled the spinney halyard through the mast. So they put the boat against a pontoon & pulled the top of the mast over to the quay, using the main halyard.
The mast broke :unsure:
The owner was none to pleased as it was a lightweight mast no longer available. On top of that my friend had to finish the week wearing a pink " Dick of the Week" jacket. He has since bought his own new Squib.As well as a new mast for the other Squib

At our club we lift the mast off ( 2 people) & place it against the club bridge. Then a piece of cycle chain on a length of whipping twine & much shaking normally helps.
Click to expand...
IMHO the mast of a Squib is strong enough to resist the force required to move it through 50% of 1.87m. There must have been other factors at work., for instance the end of the spreader beingpushed hard against the quay wall.
An extract from Wikipedia ; "A Squib is a type of small racing keelboat designed in 1967 by Oliver Lee as a successor to the Ajax 23.[1] It is a strict "one-design" class of boat, having a length of 5.79m, beam of 1.87m, a sail area of 15.8 sq m upwind, 29 sq m total and a weight of 680 kg (including sails and fittings)"
Someone more mathematically adept than I, (or someone with more time:) ) could perhaps work out from those data the force exerted on the masthead.
 
High-pressure hose, vacuum cleaner, crossbow..... really?!
Lower the mast, tie a small nut (not stainless), onto some very light line (monofilament will do) . Post the nut in over the top sheave and drag it along to the exit with a magnet. You can choose your path past any fittings and you will hear the nut scraping along inside. If you lose it - don't pick it up again from the bottom side of the mast where it will have dropped to - you might get it wrapped around something internal - just pull it out and start again. You might need to follow the monofil with something a bit heftier, then the halyard with a loop whipped on it's end (as above).
 
I have a Squib. I have seen club members using a ladder to get to the spreaders, but it has always seemed really risky. Bearing in mind that the mast of an 18 ft boat ( Ops stated length) should be easy enough for 2 to handle, it seems a bit pointless struggling & risking a fall.
 
Spirit (of Glenans) said:
IMHO the mast of a Squib is strong enough to resist the force required to move it through 50% of 1.87m. There must have been other factors at work., for instance the end of the spreader beingpushed hard against the quay wall.
An extract from Wikipedia ; "A Squib is a type of small racing keelboat designed in 1967 by Oliver Lee as a successor to the Ajax 23.[1] It is a strict "one-design" class of boat, having a length of 5.79m, beam of 1.87m, a sail area of 15.8 sq m upwind, 29 sq m total and a weight of 680 kg (including sails and fittings)"
Someone more mathematically adept than I, (or someone with more time:) ) could perhaps work out from those data the force exerted on the masthead.
Click to expand...
Squib displacement is 680kg with a centre of gravity about 0.5m (estimated) below the waterline and a mast height about 8m. This would need a force of about 40kg at the masthead to heel the boat. The problem is that the Squib is fractionally rigged and pulling the main halyard puts force on the unsupported part of the mast. If he had used the jib halyard it would be pulling against the shrouds and the mast would be in compression and unlikely to break.
 
andsarkit said:
Squib displacement is 680kg with a centre of gravity about 0.5m (estimated) below the waterline and a mast height about 8m. This would need a force of about 40kg at the masthead to heel the boat. The problem is that the Squib is fractionally rigged and pulling the main halyard puts force on the unsupported part of the mast. If he had used the jib halyard it would be pulling against the shrouds and the mast would be in compression and unlikely to break.
Click to expand...
Add to that one person weighing 18 stone in the cockpit whilst the other is pulling on the mast & leverage goes quite high if the person accidentally goes on the opposite side
 
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