topping lift rerouted down backstay?

Conachair

Conachair

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Think I might give this a go - reroute the topping lift so it goes through a block at the top of the mast then parallel to one of the (twin) backstays into a cleat or jammer attached to a backstay reachable from the cockpit. Read Hal Roth recommending this once. Anyone tried this? Any hints or problems which might arise?
 
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are you some sort of radical or something?? :-)

Nick

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Quite the reverse - single hander, you loose points every time you leave the cockpit /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Seen it done, but less complex. Block seized to backstay a few feet above boom, line through it with a dog clip on one end for boom attachment, other through a cam cleat on transom edge. Disconnect when not needed. No good for lifting boom in light airs, so you need a kicker strut. OTOH, saves weight aloft or gives you a spare main halyard. Perfectly logical
 
Depends on whether you reef at the mast, the front of the cockpit or the back of the cockpit. As I normally use the topping lift when reefing, and I reef at the mast, that is where the topping lift is.
 
Reefing is all at the mast, but with boom gallows the topping lift needs to be raised when the main is up, needs to be quite accurate as well, a touch too slack and it wraps around one of the back stays. Would be a lot easier if I could adjust it from the cockpit.
 
Depends upon how heavy your boom is. You will not be able to use your body weight or mast winch to help raise the topping lift.
 
Hi Padz,

Another idea I have seen on a boat, wire from the top of the mast with a small block on the end, small block on the end of the boom, small line through it to form a 2:1 or more tackle. the 2 blocks were about a foot apart with the topping lift just off.

On the one I saw the line went though the boom & via turning blocks back to the cockpit, you could use a small jammer on the end of the boom instead ?
 
I have a Ketch & the main boom has both a traditional topping lift plus a wire strop to the mizzen. A short wire strop has some advantages - it has little play & holds the boom firmly on the centre line, even if I fall on it when furling the main (bloody MoBo wash again!)

BUT that very advantage can be a problem if reefing or furling & you don't happen to want the boom on the centre line. Perhaps you don't want to be fully head to wind for some reason (narrow channel, busy moorings etc). Then the traditional topping lift comes into its own - as long as I don't forget & lean on the boom expecting it not to pivot away from me!

Keeping both offers marginal additional windage (with a Ketch - do I care?) but does offer flexibility & a potential spare halliard fudge if a heavier rope were moused up over the block. I will continue to keep & use both - Horses for courses.

Edit: It also means I can use the topping lift from either the mast or cockpit as I wish.
 
We have a rigid kicker but it doesn't lift the boom quite enough for when we are in harbour so the topping lift needs to be raised to counter the mainsheet pull and it also helps reefing to raise the boom a tad more than the gas kicker does (it's a bit tired). Our solution is a short line from the boom end up about 3ft through a small block on the existing topping lift end and back to a simple cam cleat with fairlead on the side of the boom end. This gives a simple 2 to 1 tackle that can raise the boom easily from within the cockpit, useful especially for us as all our reefing (3 slabs on a fully battened main) is done from there. With careful adjustment at the mast end the topping lift is 'set' for the season so as not to flap with the main raised but can be adjusted by +/- say 2ft when needed with the tackle, even to give additional aid to the gas strut to lift the boom in very light airs.
 
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What I don't like about conventional topping lifts is chafe down the leech of the main. How many others take the TL off, when sailing, rather than just slacking it.

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When we fitted a gas strut kicker on our last boat I did leave the topping lift off permanently, although I left it in place as a spare halyard, because in harbour I put the main halyard in it's place on the boom end to firm up support.

Our current boat the gas kicker allows the boom to sit lower than is ideal in harbour and also the boom has to be lifted a bit to allow the sprayhood to be raised or lowered, although clear enough with it raised on the rare occasion we sail with the hood up. However the simple short extra tackle we have added allows us to tension the topping lift from the cockpit to be just taught enough not to chafe the mainsail without interfering with sail set. That adjustability is helpful too because we have a flattening reef as well as our 3 slab reefs and the boom sits a tad higher with that (or the main reefs) in place than with the sail in full light airs trim. We could achieve the same by having the topping lift led back to the cockpit as well as all the other lines, but the short tackle keeps it simple.

The biggest problem with the topping lift is not chafe per se but if loose it can snag on batten ends and stop telltales working properly. In our case we have a slightly added roach area with the fully battened main so the topping lift if taut and following the straight line doesn't touch the leech tabling anyway and with wind in the sail it gets nowhere near.

I guess a bit like the lazyjacks because we also leave those in place at sea although we can lower and stow them along the boom and do in harbour under the sailcover. Laziness twice over maybe but having them and the topping lift in place means we are always ready to reef without any need to go to the mast.
 
I got rid of the topping lift altogether and just use the main halyard when the sail is down. I do have lazyjacks though which help to keep the boom and stuff off the hatch when raising the sail in the first place or when reefing.
 
toplift.jpg

10 minutes jury rigged that, will give it a go for a few days at sea to make sure it works before making something a bit more presentable. Took 5 minutes to rig, little fixed block shackled to convenient pin at masthead and now I've got masthead block free to fit spare main halliard. I really, really, really like mast steps /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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