[alberg30] Jammed main halyard

[FINNUS505 at aol.com]

From: FINNUS505 at aol.com

Hi Dick,
Yes, I enjoy your stories.  Send me some to my emai adress if you think the 
list would be 'bored'!!
Lucky you have pals that can make you a sheave.  when you take it out, you'll 
see the sheave rides  on a compression tube of aluminum, which slides over a 
SS bolt.  It was all frozen on my boat and had to be cut with a Sawzall.  The 
Mast was fine, and I agree, it is a nice thick extrusion.  It was the 
retaining plates, the two aluminmum plates that the sheave rides inbetween, 
that I had made double thickness.  Worked out well, and I would recommend the 
change.
I would also strongly recommend going to an all rope halyard.  These days, 
the StaSet, or staset X stretch as little as SS wire, and without the splice 
to thimble junction limiting the run of the halyard, the line becomes more 
versatile. Have your buddy retool the sheave for rope. if the retaining 
plates are smooth and lead fairly, and you keep the halyard centered when 
sailing, and tied to the boom when the boat is not being used, then chafe 
should not be a problem.  But if you ever run aground, and time is running 
out, like the tide is ebbing, and you want to use your main halyard to heel 
the boat over briefly to decrease drafft, and float her off, then the rope 
halyard, with an extra long tail, might save the day. Might help in 
retreiving a man overboard, too, in a pinch.
Alot of Alberg 30's haveno mainhalyard winch- you just hauled up the sail to 
the top, belayed, and then fixed luff tension with the downhaul, which is 
attached to the boom.  Stargazer has an old bronze #2 Southcoast winch for 
the main halyard, and properly cleaned and greased, it does just fine.  You 
can get one, second hand, for under 50 bucks. Ebay on AOL has had a few in 
the past few months.
Stargazer came with one of those wire halyard winches with the wire being 
captive on a drum, with a brake, for the genny halyard, and I have heard too 
many stories of sailors being hurt by these, when the brake slips under 
pressure, and the handle, still attached, becomes a mad, self driven weapon.  
But I needed a genny halyard winch, so I modified it as follows-
!) changed the halyard to double braid Sta-Set.
2)using a Sawsall (yes, I like that tool!!) I cut off the guard on the bottom 
of the winch that helped keep the wire spooled on the drum.  This enabled me 
to just use the drum for three wraps of line, like a normal winch.
3) tightened the brake maximaly, manualy, and taped off the brake handle so 
no one would loosen it by accident.
Hope this helps,
Lee
Stargazer #255

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