Sparcraft Furling Mainsail Masts , Running Halyards

[Kinsale373]

View attachment Mast head Drawing.pdf

Has anyone any experience of re running Halyards on these?

I have a Sparcraft F560E set up for in mast reefing on my Bene 373. At present I have 4 Lines /Halyards.
A topping Lift
Main Halyard
Jib and Spinaker Halyard.

I was hoping to be able to run an extra spare halyard to use for mast climbing using a Topclimber. One to climb and one as a safety line. But it Looks to me as if this Mast top is only suitable for 4 Lines coming back down the mast. Id like to be able Leave the Mainsail in place and the Jib and have two safe climbing lines going to the mast top as well as the lighter topping Lift.
Am I correct in thinking that this Mast top can only take lines 4?

I thought that there was a spinaker pole uphaul on the mast before my purchase and that i could use this . The opening is there on the mast labelled but without a Halyard, Would the uphaul normally go up to the Mast head , around a sheve and back down to an exit slot? Am I right in thinking that there would not be a sheve for example 3/4 way up a mast?

It looks very difficult to drop a mousing line in the event of Losing a Main Halyard or topping lift . Both these seem to pass over two pulleys so the mousing line has to go in for a distance and then drop down . Has any dome this? Are there some tricks to doing it?

On the advise of a rigger I tried running in a 12.5mm line in place of the Topping lift as a temporary climbing line. It stuck solid at the sheve and would not enter the mast. I managed to get a 10mm line to run in with a bit of coaxing. Should the entry be this tight, is it normal?

Any advice welcome
Kinsale 373

 

[dom]

I’m not familiar with that mast, but why not replace the topping lift with a 10mm Dyneema line and use this as your lift line or whatever you want? This would be far stronger than braid on braid As well as an easy fix.

 

[Kinsale373]

Yep , I suppose 10mm Dyneema wouldnt look out of place as a topping lift and would cut down on messing about when I want to go up. I presume the dyneema is much stronger than standard braid and will hold my 12 Stone safely!
Thanks for the idea,

Kinsale 373

 

[greeny]

Yep , I suppose 10mm Dyneema wouldnt look out of place as a topping lift and would cut down on messing about when I want to go up. I presume the dyneema is much stronger than standard braid and will hold my 12 Stone safely!
Thanks for the idea,

Kinsale 373

Don't think Dyneema is ideal for a safety line as it has no stretch. If you fall on it you may get injuries more severe than on a rope with some give/stretch. I am only a layman when it comes to climbing but I was warned against this by a rope access rigging crew.

 

[dom]

Don't think Dyneema is ideal for a safety line as it has no stretch. If you fall on it you may get injuries more severe than on a rope with some give/stretch. I am only a layman when it comes to climbing but I was warned against this by a rope access rigging crew.

Absolutely right; and why I suggested to use Dyneema as a ‘lift line’, but should poss have emphasised that. Incidentally all sailing ropes possess insufficient stretch to act as normal safety lines, which is why yacht safety line should generally have no more than 50-75cm slack. On the other hand the new Dyneema line will be a better main halyard than the original.

Re breaking strains: 12mm doublebraid should have a breaking strain of around 3 tonnes vs 10mm Dyneema at around 4 tonnes. Exact specs will vary by product. Climbing ropes are often rated around 2 tonnes, so undamaged neither should break with a 75kg climber!

 

[cmedsailor]

The furling mast of the Beneteau Oceanis 361 (probably same mast) has:
On the front side - 2 turning blocks at the very top of the mast for spinaker halyard and spinaker uphaul and the genoa halyard slightly lower than the two (and I think an extra block in the mast next to it in case you need to run an extra line).
On the back side - 1 turning block at the top of the mast for the topping lift, an extra block next to it in case you need to run something else and the main sail halyard slightly lower than the top of the mast.

 

[Kinsale373]

Thats very helpful, thanks cmedsailor for photos.

I just looked at the drawing on my Mast head and it does seem different and more enclosed than yours . Actually they show an optinal extra on the drawing that they call a Spinaker Crane. Its a Y shaped metal piece similar to yours that looks like it will take two externally mounted turning blocks. It would definately give me a couple of extra lines that I could do with. It seems to be designed to be fitted using 6 small bolts. I don't see any corrasponding holes in the mast head drawing . It looks like i'd need to drill the top of the mast head to fit it. Im trying to contact Sparcraft to get more info. Thanks for you input.
Rehards, Kinsale 373

 

[cmedsailor]

The Beneteau 373 uses the FM-580 mast whereas the Beneteau 361 the I-365. Both masts have that "spinaker crane". It's that metal Y piece on the top of mast with the two turning blocks. These bolts are not small. I was using a 12mm spinaker halyard and a 10mm spinaker uphaul going through these bolts. Both lines run inside the mast through some holes (above the boom height), come out of two holes below the spinaker crane, through the bolts and back to the deck in front of the mast attached at the spinaker eye. In fact these were the two lines I was using to climb up the mast.

 

[Kinsale373]

I phoned Sparcraft this morning in Plymouth. The guy I spoke with was very helpful. He thinks I am maxed out with 4 Lines on my masthead fitting as it stands. He agreed the addition of a crane would give me another two. He wasnt 100 % sure what mast I have and said that specific boats could have different masthead configurations depending on build year etc. He recommended running a 10mm line with some dynema to reduce stretch and using another as a saftey line and climb away! He says that the masthead would not be pre drilled to take a crane. My plan now is to run in a 10mm line instead of the small topping lift and go up and take a look at what I have and whats involved in adding a crane (Awaiting a fine calm day in Kinsale!)
He agreed that the pulley system is fairly restricted and that 10Mils is the max I would probably be able to run in to the rear exits because these lines run over two sheves.

Thanks again for you inputs,

Kinsale 373