MacGregorSailors.com

Chip Hindes wrote:In the excitement, the evidence of what caused the failure was lost, but it was believed to be that the forestay turnbuckle simply unwound.

Yeah, I remember reading a post here several months ago in which a 26X owner, upon lifting up the furler drum, was shocked to discover the turnbuckle had unwound and was on its last couple of threads. If I remember correctly, it had sheared through the cotter pin.

At the time, my turnbuckle was secured with a cotter pin in each hole... I thought this was good enough, since the "legs" of the cotter pins seemed to prevent the turnbuckle from turning, and even if it did turn, the pins would stop it from coming off all the way (and I would be alerted to the problem by the other rigging being loose).

But ever since reading that post, I decided to be overly cautious, and wrapped the turnbuckle thoroughly with seizing wire.

I'm going to do the "jib halyard backup" thing too. In case you can't tell, I'm paranoid about the mast coming down!

--Mike

Whoa - you just scared the h___ outta me - where is the jib halyard supposed to be connected? When I had my RF installed last winter - the installers removed the jib halyard and sheave totally - the next time I had the mast down - I saw what looked like where the bolt had been removed from at the top of the mast - replaced the bolt/sheave there. I've been using the main halyard with the mast raising kit - it works OK (I think??)
Should I be installing the jib halyard somewhere else and using it with the raising kit??

Ken,

Take another glance at your standing mast and you'll see why you shouldn't raise the mast using the main halyard. The upper shrouds only go up to the forestay hound, where the jib halyard block used to be. That's the point at which the shrouds provide enough support to pull the mast up.

Pulling the mast up with the main halyard could bend or snap-off the top of the mast. You may be OK if your rig isn't tuned very tightly, but a fully tuned mast couldn't tolerate being pinned using the halyard at masthead.

OK - my next question then is where is the jib halyard supposed to be bolted to? I just went out and tookanother look at the rigging (it happens to be parked in my yard right now) - unless the through bolt holding the RF and the upper shrouds? Does anyone have a good picture of the rigging so I can take a look?

thanks

All turnbuckles should be wrapped with rigging tape.

mike wrote: Does the halyard get in the way of anything (in other words, does it interfere with the operation of the RF)? Sounds like a good backup.

I had mine tied to the bow pulpit for a while...after reading a bit of paranoia from this site. But after a while, I found that it does indeed interfere with the RF and headsail if you have everything rigged as per the 26X user manual. If you try to furl the headsail when you are going downwind, it usually would get tangled up in the jib halyard and you would have to let it out again and turn the boat in a different direction to furl the sail. Also, the halyard/ block will rub on the top of the furler a bit when you tie it like that. I've since stopped doing this but I do make sure to check the turnbuckle and strands of the forestay periodically.

The factory installation has the jib block attached to one end of a short (3") stainless strap, other end bolted with the short thru-bolt that pins the upper forestay to hound straps. This short strap interfered with rotation of my RF, so I moved it up to the longer thru-bolt attaching hound straps to the mast.

Someone observed that this will cause slight mast twisting when pulling it erect, so it might be better to leave it attached at lower end of hound. I could probably do so by using a shorter strap. Hope it's clear - helps some.

Curious, you guys with a roller furler have a spare jib halyard for the spinnaker. If one is using a hank on head sail, is it not possible to have a spinnaker too? Does one trade head sail for head sail or can a spinnaker be flown with the jib? Haven't had an opprtunity to try yet so I got to wondering.

mike wrote:I'm going to do the "jib halyard backup" thing too. In case you can't tell, I'm paranoid about the mast coming down!

I think you are being overly causious. It does not take a lot of force to hold the mast up. In fact when I lower the mast with the mast raising system, I have to pull on the back stay to get the mast going. I think that if you keep the furler line cleated, the furling line should be able to keep the mast up. If anything, it should provide you with enough time to rig the jib halyard.

Frank C... I just measured the strap that runs from the jib block to the bolt through the hounds on my '02... it's 1" center to center on the holes in it. The shackle on the block is a bit under 1-1/4". Perhaps there's a shorter strap that would help you.

--
Moe

Thanks, Moe. I doubt mine is different except in my memory.

TampaMac,

Please make a new post so I can see your photo

Just kidding.

Thanks to everyone, as I have learned a ton of sailing info.

Regards

Rich