Pedestal Helm Mods

A forum for discussing boat or trailer repairs or modifications that you have made or are considering.
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Russ
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Re: Pedestal Helm Mods

Post by Russ »

BOAT wrote: Mon Nov 22, 2021 10:01 am
I would greatly appreciate info on that halyard you mentioned - where can I read about it? Is it a post here? Who is Jim?
Jim King, c130king on this forum, had a video, but I think it was on the now-defunct Photobucket, of his looped main halyard.

Basically, his main halyard was a giant loop to the cockpit. Hoisting he would pay out the other end of the loop to raise the sail allowing the other end to go UP with the sail. To bring the sail down he would undo the halyard and pull down on the other end to force the sail down.

Now if your main has good slugs, it may not be necessary. But mine always gets stuck and if I could pull the main down from the cockpit it would save me a trip up there.



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--Russ
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BOAT
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Re: Pedestal Helm Mods

Post by BOAT »

I thought many times about a loop on the main halyard but I just assumed that the sail would not come down unless you were pulling it from the bottom. What your describing means that he is really PUSHING the sail down the mast from the top. So if the sail binds up I am not sure pushing from the top would do it. I guess I could experiment with that.

If there was a way to pull from the bottom that would work but I can't see any way to do that. You would need a rope for every slug and that's not practical.

I remember watching masreb deal with this issue in his backyard, he put really expensive track and cars arrangement on his entire mast and when I picked up one of the cars all the ball bearings fell out and I felt bad because I knew I was an idiot for touching his stuff and I probably made a huge mess for him to try to put that car back together.

Anyways, mastreb's solution worked but gee whiz it was a lot of crap on the mast and it cost a fortune.
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Bobglas
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Re: Pedestal Helm Mods

Post by Bobglas »

Black tanks? Where, what, how much?
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NiceAft
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Re: Pedestal Helm Mods

Post by NiceAft »

Russ,

What helps relieve the jamming of the slugs when lowering the main is pulling on your topping lift (if you use one) to raise the boom. It relieves downward tension on the leech, and thus on the slugs nearest the head of the sail. It really made lowering the main more liquid.

Jim King’s system is doable. I may think this one out for use on Nice Aft.
Ray ~~_/)~~
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BOAT
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Re: Pedestal Helm Mods

Post by BOAT »

NiceAft wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 9:47 am Russ,

What helps relieve the jamming of the slugs when lowering the main is pulling on your topping lift (if you use one) to raise the boom. It relieves downward tension on the leech, and thus on the slugs nearest the head of the sail. It really made lowering the main. . . .
This is a for sure thing that I really pay the price on when I forget. I have two clips tied to the topping lift - the one on the end for slack and it just keeps the boom from falling down then another clip higher up and if I clip the boom on that higher clip before lowering the main it comes down a LOT easier. Sometimes I forget and get mad at myself when that happens.

Bobglas wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 8:29 am Black tanks? Where, what, how much?
Black Tanks come from BWY and they are not cheap but if you travel a lot of miles between marinas like I do they are great. Once I leave Oceanside Harbor the next closest Marina is 22 miles away at Dana Point. San Diego is 40 miles and Catalina is 45 so 100 miles of range for emergency should keep you out of trouble. We can go over 100 miles at WOT. That's sort of extreme and no one would do that. The real range I go by is 400 miles at 12MPH of speed. That makes just about any long passage doable no matter what the wind does.

Example: If we start for Catalina from Oceanside at 9AM we arrive well into the night by sail alone. I never know how far we will get before sundown because I never know what the wind will do - it's 45 miles and we can average 4.5 knots for a dusk mooring or 3 knots putting us there near midnight. I I find myself way short as sun looms low I can cover the last 18 miles in an hour before the sun sets. Sometimes you really come up short; Black Tanks takes away all the worry.
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NiceAft
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Re: Pedestal Helm Mods

Post by NiceAft »

Talk of the black tanks made me think of last summer.

We took a cruise last summer of 380 miles (611.55 km) on the water. Because of having to remove the mast (problem with attaching the head-stay,DON'T ask) I was concerned about carrying enough fuel. I remembered that a Mac owner in Alaska carried two Jerry cans (derogating WWI name, not PC). I looked into this, and purchased two Wavian 20L fuel cans, original NATO cans.

I remember that the Mac owner in Alaska said people thought he was crazy for keeping them in the cabin, but he proved them wrong. My two cans were kept below deck the entire time. Not once was there any gas smell, none. Whenever I opened one (above deck) to refill any of the 12 gallon tanks I have, there wasn't any pressure of gas build up due to expansion of content. These cans are amazing. Incredibly well made. Double lock caps and a self contained, well thought out spout.
Ray ~~_/)~~
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