Spinnaker halyard for a furling jib??

[sfbaysailing]

Hello Everyone!

I am picking up my new boat today - a 1978 Catalina 30! I'm really excited to get her to her new home and start the punch list of projects to get her ready for a summer of fun sailing. The first project is going to be replacing the jib halyard that broke this winter.
I'm wondering if I could sail her home today (across SF bay) using the spinnaker halyard as a temporary jib halyard....the jib is on a harken roller furling system......the spinnaker halyard, as far as i know, goes all the way to the mast head. Can anyone see any problem to doing this for the short ride home?
Thanks for your help!
cheers
greg

[75Tartan30]

shouldn't be a problem if its in ok condition. Congrats on the new acquisition!

[Faster]

It's going to be an odd angle on the swivel, but it should work.. maybe be a tad conservative on the luff tension for that trip. Or send someone up with some string and 6 inches of bicycle chain, drop a messenger line and feed the new halyard through first!

[overbored]

Congrats on the new to you boat
you could but I would not furl the sail, the haylard might get wrapped around the headstay because the angle of the haylard is about the same as the headstay. the jib haylard needs to be at a 15 degree angle to the forstay and short ( between sail head and sheeve ) so it does not wrap on the forestay when you furl

[sfbaysailing]

overbored:
But don't the spin halyard and the jib halyard come out of the mast in pretty much the same place? If so, why would the angle of the spin halyard be any different from the jib halyard?
thanks everyone for the replies so far!
greg

[GeorgeB]

I wouldn’t use the spin halyard for the jib on my boat for the following reasons. Chafe: The spinnaker block is above the headstay which it will chafe against if used as a jib halyard, you also run the risk of getting a cotter pin for the headstay impaled in the halyard and jamming it. The other big risk is, in normal operation, the headstay stabilizes the upper furling car so the sail can be furled. Often, riggers install line restrainers on the mast to make the proper fairlead to the upper car. Using the spin halyard will tend to rotate the car out of alignment with the tack which opens the possibility of jamming the furling gear (next to overrides, this is the most common cause of furler jams). Another concern is spinnaker blocks are not designed to carry the loads required of a headsail. Breaking the sheave wheel on that block could jam the halyard. If it was my boat, I’d buy a and thread a replacement halyard. And if I couldn’t afford that, I would re-reeve the spinnaker halyard as a proper jib halyard. If the jib halyard is completely missing, I’d go up on the main halyard to do this repair. Or, you can motor your boat over to your new marina.

[sailingfool]

Originally Posted by sfbaysailing

overbored:
But don't the spin halyard and the jib halyard come out of the mast in pretty much the same place? If so, why would the angle of the spin halyard be any different from the jib halyard?
thanks everyone for the replies so far!
greg

No. A spinnaker halyard should/does run through a block hanging on a crane that projects it outside/above the forestay, so the halyard can swing in front of the forestay, to either side.

I would would use a spinnaker halyard temporarily for a jib, with a few caveats:
1.dont use the furler gear
2. dont use a full hoist jib
3. dont use it too long

[Faster]

Originally Posted by GeorgeB

I wouldn’t use the spin halyard for the jib on my boat for the following reasons. Chafe:

But in this case the lead would be from the swivel head to the spinn halyard block.. this would spin the swivel around to point towards the spinn halyard crane.. so I don't think chafe would be a serious issue but it's not the position the swivel head is meant to be in.

This is not a good long term situation, I agree, but for a short one shot as long as nothing gets seriously stressed I think it would be OK.. even furling. One problem might be if the crane position does not create a decent angle between the forestay and the 'temporary' halyard lead then halyard wrap might be an issue.

[RobGallagher]

Originally Posted by sfbaysailing

overbored:
But don't the spin halyard and the jib halyard come out of the mast in pretty much the same place? If so, why would the angle of the spin halyard be any different from the jib halyard?
thanks everyone for the replies so far!
greg

If it comes out of the top of the mast from a sheave next to the jib halyard it very well may be a second jib halyard. It's fairly common to have this set up.

The spinnaker halyard will probably be external and may lead to a block just forward of the forestay.

Gotta camera with a zoom? Post a pic?

[sfbaysailing]

Thanks everyone for the info so far. I'm going over to the boat this afternoon and will check it out.
cheers!
greg