Do any of you guys have your genoa halyard cleated off on the mast? I'm thinking of doing it to free up a clutch on the cabin top for 2-line reefing. I was doing some reading on cruisers forum and a bunch of them were talking about riveting a small plate of aluminum to the mast to thicken the amount of aluminum that the machine screws "bite" thus securing the cleat more effectively. One even suggested "through-bolting" I think this sounds like complete overkill, but am I missing something here? Seems to me that based on the direction of force from a cleated halyard would be relatively low and 2 high quality stainless machine screws would be sufficient, but I'm just a pilot, not an engineer. :D
I had a cleat on the mast for the main a while back. Took it off but never had an issue with 2 tapped stainless screws. It seems like a belt and suspenders approach to rivet an extra plate but the genoa my induce higher loads.
QuoteDo any of you guys have your genoa halyard cleated off on the mast?
The problem with that as I see it is halyard tension. A few decades past the normal set-up was a winch and cleat on the mast.
Jim
I use a rope clutch to store the jib/headsail halyard on the port side of mast. I have another rope clutch on the starboard side of the mast for the spinnaker.
I've made my own halyard track on the mast, two of them since I also have a in-mast main. Both my halyards stay at the mast and there's no tail to deal with. That also gives me the extra room for other lines in the cockpit. I now have 6 control lines.