Chaff? Am I nitpicking

[71Irwin32]

It's little stuff like this that makes me crazy. 2nd visit to my new boat, and the last person that sailed this boat was a "rigger" that brought the boat to this marina from a near by marina, before I bought it. Look how he left the lines....a professional rigger? He left a halyard loose next to the sail to cause this chaff.



I know that if you let this little stuff go, it'll always turn into bigger problems. I rerouted the lines, at least temporarily, till I can get other stuff done. Might not be the best thing for the lines, but sails cost a lot more than lines.



.....anybody think this is not worth frettin' over, or am I right?

[zz4gta]

I'm confused. How did a loose halyard cause chafe? And why is it wrapped in front of the spin pole ring? Why not just take up the slack and retie it?

[GaryHLucas]

I've always wondered about the chaff on dock lines and anchor lines. I think chaff happens because lines stretch. when a line goes from a cleat over an immovable object it saws back and forth as it stretches with changing load. The further your cleats are from the immovable object the worse this problem gets. On one of Sail magazines Boat Of The Year picks they actually had a halyard going from a line stopper then bent over a stainless protected edge to the turning block at the mast! How the heck can that hold up? Then there are the Hunter bubble boats, ugly as sin in my book. However I noted that the Hunters tied up at the dock all had the cleats tilted outboard, and the lines touched nothing but the cleat. That looks like good design to me!

[71Irwin32]

In the 2nd photo at top, the 3/8s line (jib halyard, center) was tied back around the back, starboard side of the mast against the area of the chaff. The wind was causing it to move back and forth across that section of the sail.

[tager]

Isn't chaff some kind of farming byproduct? I always thought it was spelled chafe. ..

PEDANTIC!

[Joesaila]

I noticed a couple of boats near mine that had no chafe protection on the lines going from the mooring ball through the chalks....they were that way the entire season and I never saw anyone aboard. You can get away with that,noise and longer life. I don't think you were nitpicking but the riggger, like many people, was done w his 'job' and movin on.

[puddinlegs]

Looks like you have a main cover that doesn't wrap around the mast and gooseneck (already well worn?) so the 'rigger' did his/her best to just tie the sail AND the sailcover to the boom (can't tell if it's just a luff rope or slugged main, but I'm guessing it's just a luff rope). Unless it was just howling in the marina, or your second visit was a month or two after the first, this amount of chafe is as much the fault of simple neglect as much as the way it was tied. If you're in the water in the winter months, it's usually best to take the main off, especially if you're not checking the boat regularly. Your line 're-routing' is going to drive your neighbors nuts as the halyard slaps your mast. Just take it forward and clip it to your pulpit, pull it taught, and you'll be good to go. Take a walk around the marina and see how other boats are put away for ideas.

[71Irwin32]

It's a Dutchman Main, so I'll just have the front section repaired or remade. The way I've got the lines now is much quieter than the other boats around. You can't see in the photo that I pulled the main halyard in front, forward and tied it to the furler.......That also limited the movement and noise of the furler....the back part of the main halyard is rapped around the spreader. I'll get to that, but it's quiet the way it is.

This is not the live aboard section of the marina, though you can (and I am) stay aboard for 2 weeks per mo. I didn't notice this during my first stay. I was preoccupied with installing a second bilge pump and other priorities.

[puddinlegs]

oh, checked out your website and wanted to compliment you on the outboard transom slide. Looks like a job well done!

[71Irwin32]

Thanks, it was very interesting to do, but it's on hold at the moment. I discovered this A4 is very low hours, so I'll have to see how that goes.