[alberg30] Jammed main halyard

[Dick Filinich]

From: Dick Filinich <daf at mobiletel.com>

FINNUS505 at aol.com wrote:
> 
> 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
> 
> Lee and All.Yesterday spent the day dee rigging my mast and examined
every single piece of hardware that came off,and buffed the whole mast
and spreaders down to bare metal.There was only one crack and that was
in the mast to spreader mounting bracket,its about a 1/2 " long not even
gonna fool with it.My mast is 35' exactly.I contacted Traditional marine
outfitters,there in Nova Scotia and cold as a grave diggers butt.While I
wait for word on winch with Tim with company,I'm going
down to my boat this morning and check if one of my spinnaker winches
will replace cable winch.If I'm lucky I have the mast up by next weekend
maybe.I can always replace spinnaker winch at my leasure,Cable winch
bolts are frozen solid to aluminum to get it off probably will mean a
useless winch when I finish.You like a sawsall,well we get lots of use
from a weapon we call a metabo blade.Thin carbon blade that replaces
buffing or grinding wheel on 4 1/2" mini grinder.Stainless steel does
not cut with a torch ,but be careful with this use heavy leather
gloves,this blade can cut to the bone in a heart beat.Gonna go with new
lights while I've got the mast down,and the spreaders and upper shroud
chain plates?will be painted black to break up that powder puff all
white appearance."High Spirits"# 191   Dick

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