Rigging and gooseneck

Hi,

Another two quick questions -

1. While my boat is out of the water, I'm thinking of changing the main and jib halyards - what rope do people use for this?

2. On the boom gooseneck there is a thumbscrew, which I've always screwed into a hole in the mast slot which was (I thought) designed for it.

Then I read Greg saying ....

"It's not a problem as there is a slide on the back of the mast, in which the gooseneck fits, and you just haul down on it until the luff is tight. The boom is now marginally lower than it was, but still clearly my head (I'm 6ft!) when gybing so I don't worry at all. "

... do you leave the thumbscrew un-screwed? Or tighten it in the slot (rather than a hole) after pulling down?

Cheers,


Barry

I use 8mm kernmantel laid rope for halyards.  Liros brand but they are all similar.
The gooseneck fitting is designed to lock into the slide by tightening in the slot, but some people do drill a hole to suit their mainsail luff.  There's a good article in this month's PBO about fitting a fixed gooseneck which is OK providing you only use mainsails with similar or shorter luffs.  The roller reefing still works but I use slab reefing as it gives better sail shape and is quick to reef. 

Brian

Hi,

waterville wrote

1. While my boat is out of the water, I'm thinking of changing the main and jib halyards - what rope do people use for this?

It's ten years since I replaced my halyards so my memory is a little hazy. I believe that Brian is right in suggesting that 8mm is the correct diameter to fit the pulleys in my SSS mast. They didn't have that size in stock when I bought mine, so I believe I went for  a 7mm twisted, not braided, line. It turned out it had a fair bit of stretch in it.

Some time after, I was persuaded that "pre-stretched" line would have been better. I bought some to secure my forestay (As a Broads sailor I'm forever having to drop my mast, so bottle screws and other "permanent" fixing are useless). I found that stiff, more shiny and more difficult to grip. Any supposed benefit in lack of stretch was off set by an inability to pull it tight and secure it easily in my jamb cleat. I vowed never to buy pre-stetched again.

As for halyards, I don't find the stretch a problem. I haul as high as I can, till the shackle is struggling to disappear into the head of the mast secure the line then pull down on the boom as hard as I can and tighten the thumbscrew in the track. There is no hole in the mast, no fixed point to reach. It depends on exactly how tightly I've hauled on the halyard as to how far down the boom comes, though normally, the marks on the boom tell me that doesn't vary by much more than half an inch.

2. On the boom gooseneck there is a thumbscrew, which I've always screwed into a hole in the mast slot which was (I thought) designed for it. Then I read Greg saying ....

"It's not a problem as there is a slide on the back of the mast, in which the gooseneck fits, and you just haul down on it until the luff is tight. The boom is now marginally lower than it was, but still clearly my head (I'm 6ft!) when gybing so I don't worry at all. "

... do you leave the thumbscrew un-screwed? Or tighten it in the slot (rather than a hole) after pulling down?

I roll the boom for reefing, normally by slackening the halyard, as there's no point in encouraging the wind to heel the boat more than is ideal for good sailing. Once hauled tight again, I then notice that the angles and cut of the sail will mean that the boom then sits at a different angle, giving me far more head room under the boom. So that means I will often lower the boom by around three inches before re-hauling the halyard. Again - no point in having a fixed point to which to haul the boom.

The caveat I offer is that all this is self taught and based only on my Broads sailing experience. With other line, and brands of mast and sailing waters things may work a little differently.