[danvon]

Hi all-I'm trying to avoid a halyard wrap situation.

Boat is a Catalina 27 with a CDI 4 furler. I added a spinnaker bail (the one from Catalina Direct) with a block for the spin halyard. All halyards are external. The spinnaker halyard runs from a block at the base of the mast (port side) to the spinnaker block on the bail. Because the shortest path between the two is a diagonal leading slightly forward, the halyard runs past the side of the furler fitting at the head of the jib. When the furler turns, it bumps/drags just a bit on the spin halyard (you can feel the drag it you turn the furler by hand). Flipping the halyard behind the spreader does not fix this issue. As far as I can tell, if the spin halyard ran parallel to the mast on its way up, or was internal, there would be no interference.

I am concerned that the furler may wrap up the halyard and cause all kinds of havoc. I hope this is clear without a pic; but unfortunately I'm down here and the masthead is up there.

So, here's the question-what's the best way to correct the lead on the spin halyard? I have seen halyard restrainers that would mount to the front of the mast. My understanding is that these are generally used to make the jib halyard behave on its way down to a furler; I would think the load on a restrainer and the associated wear on the halyard would be higher in my situation.

It seems to me that a small cheek block on the port side of the mast (just below the level of the spinnaker block on the bail) might be a better way to force the halyard to run parallel to the mast. In effect it would make the direction similar to an internal halyard. It would also have the halyard running through a sheave rather than just sliding through the restrainer, which ought to be better in terms of wear.

What say you? Am I missing something here? Would the halyard restrainer approach actually be the better way? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[bobmcgov]

We're facing the same issues with our Albin Ballad. Both forward masthead sheaves are spoken for, and we may be adding a double crane for spinnaker Code 0 halyard blocks. How to get the spi halyards past the masthead furler w/out chafe or other conflict? We will be adding a double restrainer for the jib & solent halyards, but there is still a chance for interference. So tentatively we are planning what you describe:


A cheek block or foot block to keep the spi halyard high & tight. Then we'll probably bring the line internal & exit about 7' above deck. But you could just dress it externally in front of the spreaders, too. The cheek block will need to be pretty stout, tho -- maybe a foot block is even better? If you figure (for convenience) 800# halyard loads and a 90* turning angle, your block needs to rate at least 1100# WLL. That's a pretty large cheek block. Something in this range:

Harken - 57mm ESP Footblock - H6091

On the plus side, adding a high turning block reduces loads on the halyard block itself.

 

[danvon]

Great diagram! That's exactly our situation except for the internal halyard. And load on the block or restrainer was one of the things i am worried about. It seems to me that using a halyard restrainer, the load is at least partly going to try and pull the restrainer forward/pull the screws out of the mast, whereas with the cheek or foot block much or all of the load would be in shear.