[EuroboyDC]

Hello!

Looks like there is a placeholder line...well, string really...in the mast of my Hunter 306. I was curious how I would go about replacing that with an actual spinnaker halyard, ideally without unstepping the mast.

Any experiences on that front?

Thanks!

Nico

 

[Sabreman]

Easy. Make sure that the trace line runs free and attach the new halyard to the tracer. Pull the tracer until the new halyard is in hand.

The tracer is probably 1/8" and the halyard is larger. The simplest way to attach the two lines is to rip a 9" length of 1" high quality duct tape. Make sure the halyard and tracer are clean and not oily. Starting about 2" from the end of the halyard wrap the tape spirally toward the end and onto the tracer which you will butt to the end of the halyard. Continue wrapping to about 3" up the tracer and then reverse wrapping back toward the halyard. Take wrapped lines and rub them between your palms briskly. I use this technique each spring and fall to remove all my running rigging on mast and boom (20+yrs). I've never lost a line. IMO, no need to see the two lines together.

I'm not sure if your tracer is tied at the masthead and at the base. If so, then you need to go aloft and attach the halyard to the tracer at the masthead, pulling from the base afterward. I can't see any other way if it's attached at the masthead.

All in all, not hard or time consuming.

 

[ccriders]

Look at the mast head. Is there a metal hoop above everything else? It is intended to receive a block through which the spinnaker halyard is run. Depending on the age of your boat the tail of the halyard probably does not run internally through the mast, a hunter 306 owner can answer more definitively. If it is as I described, you are going to have to go (or pay someone to go) up the mast to install the block with the halyard.
John

 

[EuroboyDC]

Thank you both for your feedback on this. It's a weird setup, because from what I can tell, the tracer (learned a new word!) goes into the mast through an opening labelled "Spinnaker 1" (tied off on a cleat on the other side of the mast) and also comes out the mast on the bottom (tied off at the gooseneck). But it also seems to come out of the mast above the forestay! I'm not sure I'm explaining it correctly, but I have attached three pictures, which I hope show the setup.

I'm assuming that that's the spinnaker tracer coming out above the forestay...

Thanks again!

Nico

 

[sailak]

The tracer is probably 1/8" and the halyard is larger. The simplest way to attach the two lines is to rip a 9" length of 1" high quality duct tape. Make sure the halyard and tracer are clean and not oily. Starting about 2" from the end of the halyard wrap the tape spirally toward the end and onto the tracer which you will butt to the end of the halyard. Continue wrapping to about 3" up the tracer and then reverse wrapping back toward the halyard. Take wrapped lines and rub them between your palms briskly. I use this technique each spring and fall to remove all my running rigging on mast and boom (20+yrs). I've never lost a line. IMO, no need to see the two lines together.

I hate tape sticky on my lines. I work a set of forceps thru the halyard near the end, "grab" the messenger/tracer line and pull it thru the halyard then tie a bowline. A bit of rigging tape to "fair" the line/halyard and your foolproof.

 

[ccriders]

Thank you both for your feedback on this. It's a weird setup, because from what I can tell, the tracer (learned a new word!) goes into the mast through an opening labelled "Spinnaker 1" (tied off on a cleat on the other side of the mast) and also comes out the mast on the bottom (tied off at the gooseneck). But it also seems to come out of the mast above the forestay! I'm not sure I'm explaining it correctly, but I have attached three pictures, which I hope show the setup.

I'm assuming that that's the spinnaker tracer coming out above the forestay...

Thanks again!

Nico

Great pictures. That explains it to me. You have a fractional rig (versus a mast head) and your spinnaker does not fly from the top of the mast but from just above the fore stay. So, how to install the spinnaker halyard. First, do you have the halyard? If you do then there should be an eye on at least one end to take the shackle. There might also be what is called a "French eye", which is not structural on the tail end of the halyard. You will attach the halyard to the messenger and then run the halyard through the mast making sure that the structural eye exits the mast above the fore stay and the French eye, if there is one, exits the mast goes through the turning block and finds it way back to the cockpit.
The best way to attach the halyard to the messenger is to thread the messenger through the eye of the halyard, turn the messenger back on itself and the whip it down. I would take a few stitches through the two sections of the messenger before whipping it. It should then flow cleanly over the sheave above the fore stay, through the mast and out the port to the turning block. It's amazing how many words it takes to describe this really simple process.
Some where here on sailnet there is a post with photos of this, but I couldn't find it.
Good luck.
John