How to get the halyard back into the mast ??

[jfkal]

I had a few friends on board the other week...............
Need to get a new halyard into the mast now. Thought I got it all figured out.
10mm Drillbit attached to a long thin line and up the mast I went..... just to find out that the halyard sheave in nicely tucked inside a "box". (Boat is a Jeanneau). Managed to get the drillbit over the sheave or so I thought but no further.
Now, since I am not geting any younger and each trip up the mast cost me a couple of month live span. Any good ideas on:

How to get it done
Or what else to bring along to save me another trip up that ugly stick.

Thx
Joerg

 

[DownWest]

Wot about one of those nylon thingies that electricians use to thread wires in conduits? Mine is about 30ft long, but they come longer. Or perhaps a bit of bike chain, which would go round the sheave, or several small fishing wts.Just thoughts..
Andrew

 

[Eeyore]

I threaded several nuts onto thin line, then tied the last nut to the line to keep them all on and allow them to 'feed' over the sheave. All dropped down to the bottom of the mast without any hassle.

 

[davidpbo]

[ QUOTE ]
I had a few friends on board the other week...

[/ QUOTE ]

I am interested to know what you mean by the above, did someone steal your halyard?

I use draw wires ( the thing electricians) use for pulling cable through conduit quite often. It may not be suitable for this application, they need to be enclosed (as in conduit) to guide them round particularly if going around tight radii.

The chain idea might be better attached to strong thin flexible cord should be better, or some think electrical cable, failing that some weights attached to the cord.

When you come to attach to the halyard to the cord to pull it through I usually use a clove hitch or half hitch and several of them in a line (providing it doesn't make the diameter too great). Also try and do something with tape or something to give the end of the halyard a cone shape to pull through, it will be less likely to jam.

Sometimes if using a thick draw cord or cable I use a couple of bits of thin cord to get a strong join between the draw cord and whatever I am pulling through. A thicker draw cord can held line up the thing being pulled through better.

Thinking about it using the chain if it is heavy enough, you might get away with attaching the halyard to the chain and feeding in directly whilst up the mast epecially if you can fair the join between the two with tape.

 

[mikejames]

When we had the same situation, we managed to get a 'heavy string' by wrapping small pieces of lead flashing round the end of a length of cord. Each piece covered about 10mm of the cord , and there was a 5mm gap between them . In all there were about 5 pieces of lead.
So the end of the cord looked like a string of sausages. This then fed nicely round the sheave and then down the mast.

 

[PetiteFleur]

I've used a pear shaped fishing weight which works well - but make sure it can get out at the mast base!

 

[Twister_Ken]

Much discussed around here in the last week or so.

The search function should find a raft of workable answers.

 

[Malish]

the electricians wire is normally called a 'fish' you can put a variety of flexible attachments onto the end of it to go round sheaves etc

 

[mainmarine]

try some plumbers solder from a reel, cut off a short length, it is easily bent around sheave and is quite dense.

 

[jerryat]

[ QUOTE ]
When we had the same situation, we managed to get a 'heavy string' by wrapping small pieces of lead flashing round the end of a length of cord. Each piece covered about 10mm of the cord , and there was a 5mm gap between them . In all there were about 5 pieces of lead.
So the end of the cord looked like a string of sausages. This then fed nicely round the sheave and then down the mast.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, our system is very similar except that we use thin line with a series of slpit lead shot (used by coarse fishermen) clamped on to it.

This has the advantage of being very flexible to allow it go round sheaves and is very easy to pull out at the bottom with a bit ot wire with a hook at the end. Works very well.

 

[alant]

How to get it done
Or what else to bring along to save me another trip up that ugly stick.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Is it possible to attach a thin 'mouse' line to another halyard & send it down to the mast bottom?

You might then be able to send the new halyard using the mousing line.

 

[homa]

sink (plug) chain

Tie a sink (plug) chain onto the end of a thin lineLower chain down mast and retrieve from bottom.

 

[grafozz]

i always tie a mouse line to the topping lift line and pull it up to the mast head , seperate it and bring the mouse back down to the deck - then tie on the new halyard and pull it up and down to the deck . simple, of course you need some long mouse line and another on the topping lift .

 

[colvic987]

[ QUOTE ]
Wot about one of those nylon thingies that electricians use to thread wires in conduits? Mine is about 30ft long, but they come longer

[/ QUOTE ]

you will find that they will coil up, what you need is a metal one or fibreglass ones which will not coil up, but it would be better if you can take the mast down for these type of fish wires. you might find that a thin messenger line with a weight on would be easier to handle, and to get out of the bottom of the mast...

 

[jfkal]

Thanks Guys. The bicycle chain worked like a whistle