Main Halyard Snapped

[awesome34]

As I was taking the boat out for a beer can race this evening, we had just finished raising the main sail and then the main halyard snapped and fell into the mast.  I was able to remove the exit plate and pull the line out of the mast, but I am going to need to be able to run a new halyard without the benefit of using the previous halyard as a threading line.  I read some advice on forums about using bicycle chain, magnets, and some other clever ideas to run the line properly.  Has anyone else ever had a similar problem?  Any suggestions or advice are appreciated. 

Thanks,
Eric 

[Stu Jackson]

Eric, time to up the mast and drop a new one in.  Since you've already read the techniques, they are just to provide a weight so the new halyard drops down straight, 'cuz you just can't push on a rope.    Other idea is to use a curved wire hanger to pull the bottom out when it comes down.  Good luck.

[pablosgirl]

Hi Eric,

I had a similar incident with my jib halyard a couple of years ago.  I bought a light reeving line along with a new halyard from APS.  I took about six "barrel" lead fishing weights, the kind that have the slit along the long axis and crimp onto the line.  I placed them about 2" apart, starting at the end of the line.  Works as well as a bicycle chain but easier to come by and not greasy.  I had my son hoist me to the top of the mast so I could feed the reeving line over the halyard shive. Once the weights were lowered below the halyard exit port, fish around for the reeving line with a coat hanger or other stiff wire.  Once the reeving line is out of the bottom of the mast, I feed the line/halyard over the shive as my son pulled the reeving line/halyard through the exit port.  I attached the reeving line to the new halyard before taking it up the mast.  Have your rigger put a reeving line eye splice in the deck end of the halyard to make it easier to attach the reeving line. 

Pablo.

[Ken Juul]

depending on the thickness of the reeving line, another option is to sew the RL to the end of the halyard.  The RL is there to guide the end of the halyard to the exit hole, if the line is fed properly, it should not have to withstand a lot of tension.

[Noah]

A revving eye spice is nice, but electrical tape overlapped, wrapped around and tapered, should work fine too. BTW - I am in San Diego too, and would love to meet up sometime! I am At SDYC slip A-23.
- Noah

[lazybone]

Can we get an idea how old these halyards were.
It would be good preventive maintence information.

[awesome34]

Can we get an idea how old these halyards were.
It would be good preventive maintence information.

I wish I could tell you exactly how old the halyard is, but the boat is almost 3 years old to me and it came with the halyards.  So I can only say older than 3 years which probably isn't too helpful. The line looked in pretty good shape to me and it was the splice at the shackle that gave way. 

There is a factor you might want to consider that is different on my boat than other c34s.  I have a motorized winch that I use to raise the main (I have a boom furling main sail), so we may have been putting a little more stress on that splice to try to get every last millimeter of sail area than most folks raising the sail with human power would have, but it worked for 3 years, so it still might have been just fatigue on that splice. 

A revving eye spice is nice, but electrical tape overlapped, wrapped around and tapered, should work fine too. BTW - I am in San Diego too, and would love to meet up sometime! I am At SDYC slip A-23.
- Noah

Noah, I would enjoy meeting up with you sometime.  I am located at the Marriott Marina downtown.  Also, I am not sure if you are aware, but there is a Catalina owners club in San Diego http://sdcatalinaassoc.com/.  Another good way to meet fellow Catalina owners in town that you might want to check out. 

[Ralph Masters]

Noah,
We keep our boat at the Pier 32 Marina in National City, maybe the three of us could meet some day for lunch and trade tails.

Ralph