GreenLake wrote:I use the original horn cleats at the mast. I may add a way to tension the jib halyard with a purchase (a setup I have on another boat). However, I haven't run into situations where I've wanted to make changes in halyard tension while underway. So the need to route these into the cockpit has always escaped me.
Therefore, I'm standing in the front of the cockpit when I raise sails, and I'm pulling down, not out. That may influence the way I approach the whole operation.
Now, why swivel blocks?
Ah, that's right, horn cleats. Makes sense now. I like being able to raise/lower sails from a seated or kneeling position in the cockpit rather than from a position near the mast, so I replaced the horns with bullet blocks at the mast base and camcleats on the cuddy lip. But then I added the vang, and the halyards interfered with it, so I went to the swivels. While I don't necessarily adjust halyard tension while sailing, I might raise/reef/lower sail a number of times on any given trip, and I usually do that while hove to, when the boat can be a bit "rolly", hence the desire to not be standing. Just last weekend on the St. Johns River at Palatka, during the roughly 5 mile sail to the restaurant and back, I think I put in/shook out a reef about four times!
Agreed on low-stretch halyards, but I've never had a "gust stretch" plain old Sta-set or the like.
Sure about that? Would you be able to tell? I know that with my earlier halyards, I could feel a definite "give" when I pulled on them. And that was with diameters much larger than I have now. I see less windage and have less weight aloft with the new ones.
Now, I readily admit, a big part of the motivation was the challenge of making new halyards, splicing Amsteel and Amsteel with double braid. A fun winter project.
I think one could tell by a quick glance at the luff? I've never seen any scalloping develop during a puff. Maybe a tiny bit on the jib, since it does not have a wire luff (perhaps a purchase would be in order there). Nevertheless, I *have* been thinking about hybrid Spectra/Sta-Set halyards anyway, if for no other reason than the weight/windage aloft issue. I would probably splice a loop in the Spectra, and just tie the Sta-Set to the loop, since the connection wouldn't need to go through the sheaves/blocks (I don't think?). At least as a down 'n' dirty way to try it out first.