What is the appropriate rope construction for a topping lift?

[Ohlin Karcher]

I think topping lifts can have a hard life because they spend a lot of time semi-slack, fretting at the masthead sheave.
Also maybe people don't think they're worth the cost of a new bit of rope, so don't change them as often as the halyard?
They are quite often sordid bits of rope which I'd not trust my weight on.

Yes to all that.. and also when people are standing on the coachroof, furling the sail onto the boom, the topping lift is the only thing stopping a bad fall, injury and/or MOB.. even if they are clipped on, they are still standing up there.
I've had a topping lift let go above the block, when I was sweating it, so I fell hard on my back, and the block bounced off the deck, near my head..
(also my boom has knocked me out cold, which resulted in crossdecking to a lifeboat, brain scans etc, so I have an interest in this subject..)

 

[dunedin]

I think everyone who has sailed, must have at sometime released the wrong line and ended up with a sore head.

Not on a boat with a properly setup rod kicker. Ours can't drop more than a couple of inches below normal sailing position. Big benefit.
Our topping lift is non existent. But if forced to sail with one it would be thinish dyneema for strength and avoid droop, with minimum weight to flay around in wind.

 

[Daydream believer]

Three strand polyester?
Braid on braid polyester?
Wire to rope
Something high tech?

The topping lift probably leads a harder life than any other rope on the boat.

(Mine is knackered...)

Depends on the weight but Marlow nylon sash cord is quite good for the smaller boom. Does not take. A lot of load if the boom gets additional support once the sails are stowed.

 

[capnsensible]

On reflection, I think I would now choose the most garish psychedelic coloured rope
obtainable.

I think everyone who has sailed, must have at sometime released the wrong line and ended up with a sore head.

If a topping lift fails on a Nic 55, the boom will kill you. They are super robust yachts built in a bygone era. Many have been around the world with various service crews. Make the topping lift bomb proof!

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

My present boat came with a 'topping lift' line that is three-strand, fixed at the masthead and clipped to the aft end of the boom. I don't like it! It is too stretchy and is inconvenient.
It only serves to hold the boom up while I hoist or lower the main. When the main is down I unclip the halyard (8mm semi-Dyneema) from the sail and clip it to the end of the boom. I then clip a bridle to the underside of the boom-end and make the two ends of the bridle fast to cleats, one to each side of the cockpit coaming. No swinging, no drooping; if I need more head-room I simply raise the boom using the halyard.

 

[Kukri]

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to reply here. This place is a wonderful repository of knowledge.

If a topping lift fails on a Nic 55, the boom will kill you. They are super robust yachts built in a bygone era. Many have been around the world with various service crews. Make the topping lift bomb proof!

Each Nic 55 that I have sailed on has had a three strand topping lift, no doubt for the reason stated by andygc:

Conventionally, in boats where all the halyards are handled at the mast, three-strand laid rope, so that it is immediately recognisable in the dark.

(But now I don't have topping lifts or vangs and everything comes back to the cockpit.)

Having thought about it, and having a boat with two spinnaker halyards, two jib halyards and two staysail halyards I think I come down in favour of having a topping lift identical to the main halyard; it will be amply strong and will give the same redundancy abaft the mast as there is ahead of it.

I think the risk of mixing up the topping lift and the halyard is acceptably small because the leads are quite different.

The downside is that the main halyard is 12mm Dyneema! ... (£££...£££...!!!)

My comment about the topping lift leading a hard life is because many boats lay up for the winter and mouse off their halyards but leave the topping lift holding the boom up... it will be fretting very slightly but constantly at the masthead sheave...

I haven’t had a halyard break aloft since 1972. That one was “Yacht Manila”.. but the real danger is losing the main halyard when transferring it to the trysail, or if the pin decides to come out, etc. The only thing to do in this situation at sea is to masthead the shackle before the loose halyard fraps everything up, and sort it out in port, in which case a topping lift that will do as a main halyard is a handy thing to have.

40 metres of the most luridly coloured sheathed Dyneema that I could find is on its way.


I think this has been a useful thread.