halyrad systems for small boats?
 

Hi Martin,
I have come across your website before, and i must say - a very handsome
boat! I had looked at the spider a couple of years ago when i was
considering building a coastal cruiser cat for the whitsunday area of
australia. In the end, I couldnt justify the cost for the amount of itme i
can spend sailing in a year. I ended up just chartering when i sail.

This cat is definitely in the cheaper end of the spectrum but can still be
fun for me to sail. It is never raced. It is sailed on a lake in the
desert in the middle of australia which is quite close to my house, but
there are only a couple of guys in town with boats. I think it can sail
quite reasonably, but has been jury rigged many times over the years and is
in need of a bit of a refit.

Both halyards are wire rope which is then tied to spectra cord. The main
halyard is not so critical since it has a mast top lock and then downhall
tension is taken up with a cunningham with plenty of purchase, but the jib
has only about 4feet of 5mm spectra with no purchase at all. I have ordered
the vang type block with some new rope (all lines are being replaced anyway)
and will let you know how it goes. I have ordered enough rope to replace
the entire halyard with rope, and was thinking to get rid of the wire rope
section of the halyard... does this sound like a good idea? Not too sure

Thanks


""Schöön Martin"" wrote in message
...
"Shaun Van Poecke" writes:

Hi All,
I have a 16' beach cat and the halyards are a source of bother for me.
Like
snip
another story. It is very hard to get enough tension on that jib
halyard, I
try the usual method of putting a half turn around the horn clean then
pulling out on the halyard (above the cleat) while trying to retension
the
tail. By this method i can bootstrap my way to some reasonable tension,
but
if the wind is blowing hard it's only a matter of time till that horn
cleat
slacks off a little. It really doesnt take much loss in tension to have
the
jib luff up there flapping in the wind.

This sounds more like your lines are relatives to the ones on
my parents old 5 m monohull. Those halyards were 'rubber bands'.

On my 8 m cat I use the method you describe without issues.
Today I use a very good 8mm Dyneema line. Before that I used a
6 mm Dyneema line which worked pretty well to but the stiffer
8 mm line is definitely better. (Diameters include cover)

What type of line do you use?

Here is my boat:
http://hem.bredband.net/b262106/

--
Martin Schöön

"Problems worthy of attack
prove their worth by hitting back"
Piet Hein

halyrad systems for small boats?
 

"Shaun Van Poecke" writes:

Hi Martin,
I have come across your website before, and i must say - a very handsome
boat!

I am blushing.

This cat is definitely in the cheaper end of the spectrum but can still be
fun for me to sail. It is never raced. It is sailed on a lake in the
desert in the middle of australia which is quite close to my house, but

I am just back from a quick business trip to another desert: the
Phoenix-Tempe-Scottsdale valley of Arizona. Guess what? It was overcast
day one and rained all of day two...

Both halyards are wire rope which is then tied to spectra cord.

Now I am confused. I used to have wire+tail halyards and had no
stretch problems with those. I think the jib halyard wire was 4 mm
and the tail an 8 mm polyester double braid (pre-stretched).

halyard is not so critical since it has a mast top lock and then downhall
tension is taken up with a cunningham with plenty of purchase, but the jib
has only about 4feet of 5mm spectra with no purchase at all.

So, what you are saying here is you don't have any other way---like
down haul or so---to tension the jib luff other than what you can
do by hand on the halyard and the cleat? Then I guess your problem is
not halyard stretch but lack of tension on the jib luff.

the vang type block with some new rope (all lines are being replaced anyway)
and will let you know how it goes. I have ordered enough rope to replace
the entire halyard with rope, and was thinking to get rid of the wire rope
section of the halyard... does this sound like a good idea?

Maybe not, see above.

Cheers,

--
Martin Schöön "Problems worthy of attack
show their worth by hitting back."
Piet Hein