We had some halyard trouble, lads:
- On Thursday night, we broke a sheave on the spinlock deck organizer
- On Friday morning, I noticed the halyard slightly frayed.
- By the end of my solo sail on Friday the halyard casing had completely parted and separated from the core. (ask my how I got the mainsail down!)
The remedy is well underway, but we need take a few steps to maintain the halyard better. First the remedy
- A new halyard will be ready for Tuesday evening
- Bert and I replaced the spinlock deck organizer with a new one — a tricky job that required us to remove the headliner.
- A new cam has been installed into the spinlock halyard brake. This one won’t slip, so we won’t have that press down to get a grip on the halyard. Thanks to Bert for help removing the old one, and to Gadget for the disassembly/reassembly. Just need to install it and replace the headliner.
So what do we have to do differently:
- Don’t press down on the brake when locking the main halyard — let the brake do the job. The new cam is rated for 6-10mm line, and we are using 10mm line. Perfect fit. Last one was worn, and rated for 8-14mm line
- EVERY TIME we release the brake on the main halyard (any break, in fact), use the winch to tension the line before opening the brake. This will save wear on the line and on the cam.
- STOP using the halyard to hold up the end of the boom. This puts strain on it unnecessarily, and might have been the root cause.
Thanks for your help keeping PERSPECTIVE in racing trim.