I am fast coming to the conclusion that I need to organize my running rigging. There is absolutely NO organization to the running rigging at all, and being on a narrow lake, we have a fairly short time before have to tack. Essentially, this just means organizing my halyards, as I so not have any luxuries on this boat at all, such as a roller furler, Spinnaker or anything like that, I am thinking this should be fairly easy.
A bit of background first. I have a Catalina 25 with a pop-top, that I cannot use under sail because the boomvang is in the way. Also, I have the 2 halyards, running down the port and starboard side of the mast. Port side being the main's halyard, starboard being the Jib's. (this in itself is a bit odd because I cannot use the wench for the jib side, not that I need to, but still...)
So what I would like to do it get a deck organizer and run both halyards across the deck, to the port side and back to the cockpit. since my halyards run outside the mast, in order to do this I need some blocks to go on the base of the mast. I will need one on each side, then an additional one to lead the starboard halyard around to the deck organizer on the port side.
Questions:
1) Is it possible to safely modify an existing aluminum mast so the halyards run inside the mast?
2) Do I need to plan for 4 lines, the two existing halyards, a future spinnaker halyard and topping lift? Do I need to consider room for roller furler/reefer lines (which hopefully will be coming this winter)? What about the boomvang, is it common to run it back to the cockpit as well?
3) is it better to use a ropeclutch or cam cleats. (I am leaning toward ropeclutch, unless there is a good reason not to)
4) this may seem silly, but I will most likely need an additional next to the pop-top. Does the winch go before or after the ropeclutch? I know the one for my jib-sheets are before the cam cleats, but for a set up like I am thinking of, I would need to possibly use the winch for several lines, so I am thinking it would have to go after the clutch.
A bit of background first. I have a Catalina 25 with a pop-top, that I cannot use under sail because the boomvang is in the way. Also, I have the 2 halyards, running down the port and starboard side of the mast. Port side being the main's halyard, starboard being the Jib's. (this in itself is a bit odd because I cannot use the wench for the jib side, not that I need to, but still...)
So what I would like to do it get a deck organizer and run both halyards across the deck, to the port side and back to the cockpit. since my halyards run outside the mast, in order to do this I need some blocks to go on the base of the mast. I will need one on each side, then an additional one to lead the starboard halyard around to the deck organizer on the port side.
Questions:
1) Is it possible to safely modify an existing aluminum mast so the halyards run inside the mast?
2) Do I need to plan for 4 lines, the two existing halyards, a future spinnaker halyard and topping lift? Do I need to consider room for roller furler/reefer lines (which hopefully will be coming this winter)? What about the boomvang, is it common to run it back to the cockpit as well?
3) is it better to use a ropeclutch or cam cleats. (I am leaning toward ropeclutch, unless there is a good reason not to)
4) this may seem silly, but I will most likely need an additional next to the pop-top. Does the winch go before or after the ropeclutch? I know the one for my jib-sheets are before the cam cleats, but for a set up like I am thinking of, I would need to possibly use the winch for several lines, so I am thinking it would have to go after the clutch.