Topping Lift for Halyard!?

[stevepremia]

I have been having a problem with my main halyard. Basically more friction seems to have developed when hoisting the main. It also will not pull down past the boom when detached from the sail. It is a rope / wire spliced halyard (on a Sadler 26) and I am wondering whether anyone else has suffered this problem and what the cause was? Could it be a problem with the splice or perhaps a kink in the wire?

Also, if I decide not to sort it out until the end of the season, apart from the obvious problems of supporting the boom when reefing etc .. would there be any problems using the topping lift to hoist the main?

Any help would, as always, be much appreciated!

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Yes, I did have a similar problem.... in my case, the shave in the masthead was quite badly worn and the wire was jamming in the sheave... but could equally be a twist inside the mast... or indeed something else...

 

[michael_w]

Halyard problem could have a number of causes:
It's jumped the sheave, the sheave is stuck, twisted round another halyard, the wire portion is sawing away at the spreader bars within the mast etc.

Suggest you bin the wire/rope halyard and replace with decent all rope plus new sheaves. Of course you can hoist the mainsail on the topper. Provided it's man enough for the job and the leads are ok.

 

[sailingrbg]

Had a silimar problem a few years ago mainly with dropping the main sail got some silicon spay from an aerosol can and the saiil comes down by itself also, also assists in raising main for the sake of £5 can it wight be worth a try

 

[atelford]

With regards to using the topping list.... on day two of last years season I brought a novice with me. Needless to say the main halyard disappeared into the mast and eventually out the top. I used the topping lift to raise the mainsail all season without any problems at all. Only thing is obviously having to disconnect and attach to main etc but minor inconvenience when compared to lowering mast and hauling out again etc.

 

[FullCircle]

My topping lift was 3 strand 8mm, but the main is 10mm Braid on Braid.
I changed the tiopping lift to the same so it would double as a main halyard.
The 8mm used to stretch horribly.

 

[shmoo]

From time to time my topping lift jumps out of its sheave, and over the halyard. The tension of holding up the boom makes the topping lift "put a break" on the halyard. Now I know what it is all I need do is drop the boom on to the coachroof, thus removing topping lift tension, and the halyard frees at once. The topping lift can be shaken back in quite quickly too.

Worth a check.