Topping lifts

B

Binman

Well-Known Member
Joined
10 Oct 2014
Messages
802
Location
Chatham
Visit site
I intend to install a topping lift on my Pandora700, but don't know where to start, I know it needs to be variable so I have some slack, what rope blocks to buy, do I need a doubled eyed steel strop,is it best adjusted at boom end or tied off at the mast? I have emailed Sailrite who do a kit but that is $90 plus postage, I have sail jacks, also a loop hanging off my back stay which has been used in the passed but not for me.thanks for any help, a diagram would be very useful.
 
I have done away with my topping lift and fitted a Barton Boom strut which is excellent, used with a kicking strap to hold it down when sailing. Lifts the boom when reefing the main. I've retained the topping which could be used if the main halliard fails.
A usual topping lift has a block at the masthead, usually alongside the main halliard sheave, led down through the mast, exiting at the base and then cleated off.
 
Binman said:
I intend to install a topping lift on my Pandora700, but don't know where to start, I know it needs to be variable so I have some slack, what rope blocks to buy, do I need a doubled eyed steel strop,is it best adjusted at boom end or tied off at the mast? I have emailed Sailrite who do a kit but that is $90 plus postage, I have sail jacks, also a loop hanging off my back stay which has been used in the passed but not for me.thanks for any help, a diagram would be very useful.
Click to expand...

Crikey. Sounds complicated! Mine is a bit of string from the boom end, through a block at the top of the mast somewhere down to a cleat on the mast at waist height from the deck. Is there more to it than that?!
 
The topping lift does not really take much load, really only half the weight of the boom and sail plus a bit for pulling the slack of the mainsheet through the blocks. Some sort of small block is needed at the masthead, a cheek block is often screwed to the mast but my boat uses a small block with becket and twisted shackle to an eye on the mast. The rope (or cord) needs to be only about 8mm for your boat and I picked up 30 metres of suitable terylene braid for £5 in a local hardware shop. One end is made fast to the boom end (possible whip an eye and use a shackle. and the other end is cleated at the mast (or led back to the cockpit if you have enough cord.) You really do not want to need to adjust it at the boom end! Having said all that, what I describe is for my mainsail. The mizzen has a simpler arrangement of a cord shackled to masthead and boom end and is not adjustable. It has the disadvantage that either the boom droops when the sail is down or the topper bears against the sail when it is up. I get round that by dropping the gooseneck down a track when the sail is not up.
 
Binman said:
I intend to install a topping lift on my Pandora700, but don't know where to start, I know it needs to be variable so I have some slack, what rope blocks to buy, do I need a doubled eyed steel strop,is it best adjusted at boom end or tied off at the mast? I have emailed Sailrite who do a kit but that is $90 plus postage, I have sail jacks, also a loop hanging off my back stay which has been used in the passed but not for me.thanks for any help, a diagram would be very useful.
Click to expand...

Shackled to the boom end

over a sheave or through a block at the mast head.

down to a cleat on the mast.

6mm will be more than adequate for your boat. Certainly does not need to be as heavy as the halyards.
 
Thank you all, on the hard at the moment, will take a look through my bins on Monday to see if a spare sheave is there or block required.
 
A slightly simpler option is to have the line fixed at masthead, through a block at boom end and led back to a cleat somewhere near the gooseneck. This saves having the line up the mast.
For a Pandora, say 10m x 6mm polyester, 6mm block and [say] Clamcleat CL231, about £20, if you buy it all new.
A refinement is to have 2 fixed positions. 1 with an eye and hook for when the boom is topped up and a fixed end for when slacked off for sailing.
 
On my slightly smaller boat(18ft) I have just clamped a bulldog grip to the backstay as high as I can reach and loose above that is a shackle with a short piece of thin rope tied to it. At the other end of the rope is a clip so that I can clip it to the end of the boom. When sailing I unclip and clip the loose end to the backstay and it's out of the way. It hasn't been thoroughly tested yet but so far seems very simple and perfectly adequate. One downside is that as mine is a fractional rig I have to remember to fasten off the backstay adjustment - if I didn't then it would be no disaster but the boom would hang lower than I want.
When moored I bring the halyard to the end of the boom as well - belt and braces.
 
VicS said:
Certainly does not need to be as heavy as the halyards.
Click to expand...
Though the load is small for the topping lift, I use a line the same size as a halyard so there's a spare halyard and a second, safety, rope for mast climbing.
Derek
 
It's hard to imagine how you can use a boat without a topping lift. What happens to the boom when the sail is down? Pictures of Pandoras often show one so the fittings/ blocks may be in place. I'm sure a competant designer like EvdS would have provided one.
 
Graham_Wright said:
Absolutely and if you lose the main halyard, you still have something to fall back on. 8mm sounds too small.
Click to expand...

But there is a darned good chance that any fittings in existence, mast head sheave, or even cleat for that matter, won't be suitable for any thing larger.
 
On my Stella I had a topping lift cleated off at the mast, Up the mast, through a block then back down to the boom end. To save me going forward to adjust the topping lift I had a small pulley on the end of the topping lift such that it was about 400mm short of the boom. A line going up from the boom to this pulley then back down to a cam cleat on the end of the boom gave me a 2:1 adjustment. So all I did to adjust was head into wind, Give a quick tug on the line & any excessive slack could be removed . Handy when I wanted to take the load off the boom whilst reefing or just when dropping the sail & wanted the boom to clear my head before I went forward
 
ghostlymoron said:
It's hard to imagine how you can use a boat without a topping lift. What happens to the boom when the sail is down? Pictures of Pandoras often show one so the fittings/ blocks may be in place. I'm sure a competant designer like EvdS would have provided one.
Click to expand...
Of the six 5.70 metre boats which my club uses for sail training, three have topping lifts and three don't. For reefing, the boom end is supported by a crew member until the halyard can be hardened up. When not in use the boom end sits on a ply pad attached to the cockpit bench. While it can sometimes be inconvenient to be without a topping lift, a benefit of this situation is that it goes a long way to eliminate the wear to the gooseneck components caused by the otherwise constant movement.
 
If you don't ave a topping lift (or someone holding up the boom end as you hoist the mainsail) you tend to stretch the mainsail leech as you hoist which is not terribly good for the sail. In normal use the strain on a topping lift is small, but sooner or later you will put your weight downwards on the boom as you flake the sail or reef, and you don't want it to break. Nevertheless 6mm ought to be adequate on a Pandora if half-decent quality string.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top