ProDave
Well-Known Member
I'll give that a try this season.
Topping lifts
- Thread starter Binman
- Start date
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
No? Why not? I mean, what are they made of? If you've got lazyjacks, do you need a topping lift? I used 4 & 5mm line for my LJs.
I wanted a topping lift on my boat, even before I had a boat. Such an obvious, simple and essential convenience, to avoid the hideous, needless space-wasting nuisance of the unsupported boom dipping across the cockpit and scratching the deck...
...until, I was introduced to the concept of lazyjacks, which not only keep the boom overhead but also take care of the mainsail.
I couldn't begin to understand the widespread air of scorn, when I told this forum I was going to fit them on my dinghy...and three years later, I remain delighted and utterly convinced of the benefit - they keep everything out of the way. What's not to like?
Let's say you have just dropped the main outside a harbour but it did not flake well. The yacht is rolling around and you decide to tidy the main. How do you immobilise the swing of the boom without a topping lift to brace against the mainsheet?
Daydream believer
Well-Known Member
Hook it by a short strop to the backstay. Then you can let the topping lift go slack so it does not hum at night. Also if the topping lift went free you would not kill someone by smashing them on the head as the boom dropped
Hmm is the anti humming device worth the risk of transfering the 24x7 repetative loads of a boom that wants to swing onto a wire that holds your mast up? I noticed a high tech 40ft racing yacht in my local marina fitted with a good old fashioned boom crutch made from crossed and thru bolted timbers, that made a lot of sense for a long-term winter harbour stow.
As to the killer boom concern if the topping lift releases, both Charles and I have a gas strut vang for that.
Daydream believer
Well-Known Member
My fractionally rigged mast will stay up without backstay. When running i let it right off so it hangs slack, The boom does not swing much as the line is only 125mm long
As for winter- I lay up on the hard
As for lumps of wood. Who wants to sail about with loads of hardware stowed all over the place-
As for boom strut- If it collapses when one tightens the kicker then I might be concerned that either tightening the kicker is hard or the boom strut doe not really have much reserve support built in. So anyone moving forward standing on cockpit seats or cabin top etc, falling across the boom ( which I have done often in my old age)& down comes the boom on crew's head ( If I had one!!)
I did sail on a UFO 34 that had a kicker like a massive bottle screw with 2 handles on opp sides if the barrel part. Trouble being that one could not adjust easily from the cockpit. But the boom was always well supported