Rigging the Mast-Main Sail Halyard

[JeffT]

Hello, I am new to this forum. I have recently purchased a Macgregor 25 1980 Sailboat.
The boat is structurally sound. The boat has a roller furler for the jib sail. That pretty much stays attached to the boat and is rolled out and in. There is no halyard present on the mast for either the jib sail or the main sail. That is the way I received the boat. I have several halyards that came with the boat that are approximately 65-80 feet long.
I have the following question:
Can someone tell me how to rig the halyard for the mainsail?
At the mast head there are two rollers and it appears that the halyard passes over both rollers, front to back and is essentially draped over the top of the mast head.
Is this correct? If so how would you rig a second halyard onto the mast for the jib sail if the boat did not have a roller furler?
There is another block at the mast head that is mounted closer to the aft end of the boat that had a halyard on it. While setting up the mast and boom it seems apparent that this line attaches to the end of the boom for support and is not used for lifting the main sail.
The mast does not have any holes in the top for rope to go inside the mast and does not have any outlets for the rope at the bottom of the mast for connection to a winch or for jumping the line.
The Macgregor25 manual does not have any pictures of the mast head rigging. All of my sail boat books show the line going over a pulley at the top and then down inside the mast.
Can someone help with this issue?
I can't sail until I get this part figured out.
Thank you and happy sailing!
JeffT.

[puggsy]

Hi, Jeff...Only one halyard per pulley...never over two of them...
The mainsail halyard pulley at the masthead is the one on the trailing edge...to the stern...it is usually in line with the trailing edge groove where the mainsail boltrope OR the sail slides go. So that the pull is direct.
The other pulleys at the mast top are either for the jib halyard or the spinnaker halyard...and these are to the leading edge or front of the mast...If the mast is hollow, the halyards can be run down the inside but with no sharp deviations...and where the halyard exits the mast at the base it is usually through a long slot rather than a stright out the side hole...hope this helps...
Because of flotation in the mast, the modern 's have all the halyards outside the mast.

[Pete]

I think you're making this a lot more complicated then it really is. Get a rope twice as long as the mast and thread it through the block on the trailing side of the mast. Then put your mast up. Attach one end to your sail and pull on the other end to raise the sail. It really is just that simple.

[johnnyonspot]

It would help a lot if you could post a picture of your masthead, showing these blocks of which you speak.

I owned a 1983 Mac 25. I doubt very much any of this model have internal halyards. The main halyard on mine turned through a block that was attached to the top of the mast using bolts, with the nuts being inside the sail track, so that the halyard end attached to the head plate at the top of the mains'l, when the sail is fully hoisted, lines up with the block so that the lifting force of the halyard is nearly-perfectly lined up with the sail track in the mast, rather than being arranged in such a manner as to apply sideways force to the sail, thus making it more difficult to hoist. Hope this makes sense.

The other block/pulley at the top would seem to be for a topping lift, which is a line that runs from the masthead down to the aft end of the boom, and is used to hold the boom up, especially when the main has been lowered and you want to keep the boom out of the way. This could very well be something that was installed by a PO, as I do not believe they came standard. Mine did not have one; instead it had a "pigtail," which is a short line attached to the backstay, with a hook on the loose end that can be attached to the aft end of the boom in order to keep it up and out of the way when not under sail. It is not as good as a topping lift because it does not allow the boom to swing from side to side, and can be dangerous if attached when the mains'l is hoisted, especially in heavy winds.

Regarding the jib halyard, I am surprised that you don't have one. Even roller furling jibs have halyards, as far as I've seen. There has to be some way to tension the luff in order to adjust sail shape, as well as to lower the entire furler and sail when needed without having to lower the mast. As I am sure you know, the Mac 25, like all Mac trailer sailors I believe, is a fractional rig, meaning the jib is attached to the mast at a point below the masthead. There should be a block attached to the front of the mast a few feet down from the masthead. This block is for your jib halyard, and on mine was attached to the mast in a way that allowed it to swing a bit, both side to side and out from the mast, in order to allow it to line up with the jib's luff.

Again, if we could see a picture the advice would probably be much more reliable. Many POs have customized their boats, so it may not be set up the way it was when built.

[puggsy]

Your mast top should be as simple as this...
this is a photo of SEAHORSE's mast top brought to the stern support...Just a rope halyard through a pulley...

[FredH]

Jeff. I believe that you are correct in your description of the main halyard routing. On my Mac25 (~1979) the main halyard goes from the top of the sail, over the back roller, across the top of the mast, over the front roller and down. My jib halyard is routed through a pulley at the "hounds" i.e. the same place as the forestay as it is a fractional rig. The mast head has two pins to keep the main halyard in place. On my boat the rear pin is also used to fasten the topping lift (my topping lift is not adjustable). I suspect that the other pulley that you speak of is for a (adjustable) topping lift.

[JeffT]

Thank you to everyone that responded to my post.
I have learned the following information:
The main sail halyard goes up and over the top of the mast just as described in one of the posts.
There is no means or holes for placing the halyard into the mast. It just rides up one side and then down the other.
There is a topping lift pulley at aft end of the mast head and we use this to support the boom.
The roller furler is connected to the mast some distance below the mast head via a stainless steel yoke that is through bolted with 1/4" hardware. The only way to lower the furler is to lower the mast.
My son and I have successfully sailed the boat twice. What an experience!
We had so much fun.
Thank you all again for the feedback.
I am glad I found this forum and I look forward to more posts.
Jeff T.