Cutting New Halyard Exits
 

Hello,
I have a Tartan Ten and I want to cut new 4 or 5 new halyard exits in the mast. All lines (2x Headsail, Spin, Main & Topper) exit at the base of the mast today, but I want them up higher for faster sets & douses. A new main exit is not strictly needed but would be a convenience as the T-10's main is hard to hoist from the cockpit.

I'd like advice on the placement, distribution and finishing of these exits. I have emails into the spar builder (Bay Sailing Equipment) and Tartan Yachts, but no answer yet.

Someone suggested I check out the placement on the J/105's Hall Spars Mast. Another person suggested evenly spaced exits all around the sides of the mast to evenly spread the loads.

Thanks in advance,
CJV
Huntington, NY

just cut the exits at a helpful height, and stagger them. round the edges..(drill suitable sized holes top n bottom, then cut out between them, radius all edges to avoid damage to your halyards. First post.. hope this helps?!

Details
 

Hello,
As the preceding post indicates, staggering the exits and keeping sharp bits away from the halyards are the keys. We like to see at least a foot of vertical clearance between any two halyards. Sometimes on stout masts you can have exits at roughly the same height, on opposite sides of the mast, but never on the same side.
Some add-on exit hardware is very good to have. Selden's are easier to install, needing only one fastener, so I like those.
See to it that the jib and spinnaker exits are well forward, and the ones for the mains well aft, so the lines are less likely to chafe on throughbolts and such.
It can take some careful puzzling to get ideal location for all exits, especially if any of them have to lead to a winch; prioritize the fairest leads for the highest-loaded and/or most frequently used lines.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

Thanks!
 

Good insight. Someone told me that exit hardware might provide strength when a given side of the mast wall is in compression. Any thoughts on that?

I cant see much additional strength comming from a thin stainless or aluminum plate fastened with one to four screws. I prefer to have no halyard exit plats and just a well rounded and nice looking slot. No corrosion issue either.

Cut the slots by using a holesaw or stepped bit to 1/2" or 3/4" or whatever width suits your halyards, by about 2.5" hole center , again depending on halyard size. Then take your jigsaw, and use a sharp woodcutting or aluminum cutting blade, cut on the slowest speed your jigsaw has, and be careful to cut straigt, and fair into the radius of the holes you drilled on each end. The neater job you do cutting, the less filing later. Be sure to produce smooth sides and round the inside and outside edges well. Use some sandpaper on your finger to get the upper inside edge really well.

Fun Fun !

One more trick
 

Hi again,
Yeah, no appreciable strength provided -- or needed -- from an exit. But I still like them, and not just because they are shiny. Heck, if nothing else they keep the paint intact, as long as you isolate the metals.
Anyway, also try rubbing some beeswax on the jigsaw blade before cutting. Reapply after each cut. Your blades will last much longer, and won't clog nearly as quickly.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

Exit Plate Chafe, Dimensions
 

A fellow T-10 owner has a couple of exits and a couple of seasons ago his headsail halyard had the cover badly chafed at the exit. I thought it might have been the plate but I'm now guessing the exit isn't fair.

Re: the suggested 12" between exits, is that between the bottom of one and the top of the next, or would that be center-on-center. I imagine the side with three exits would need the exits at 7, 8 & 9 feet using that guidance... Time to check out that J/105 spar.

Will paraffin work also? I've plenty of that.

space
 

Hi,
I measure from the ends, to put more mast between exits. Yes, that does tend to scatter exits well up the mast in many cases, but there you are.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

Probably
 

Hi,
Paraffin probably works fine; beeswax smells so good though...
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

Lines in mast
 

Hi again..
So the boat's been in the water all winter, and the mast is up and full of halyards & lines. I'm re-considering using a jigsaw, favoring instead a grinder with a thin diamond cutting wheel. Does anyone have advice to the contrary?

I suppose I could cut one of the round openings and pull the lines away from the opposite side using a coat hanger, and then use a jigsaw. But the grinder strikes me as easier to control while on a stepstool on a deck.

Oy
 

Hi again,
The image of using a grinder to cut holes, especially while on a stepstool on deck, just gives me the shivers. It is so easy to lose control, and go cutting off in an unintended direction, so easy to get kickback and hop. Some shops use routers, but even those are best done witht the mast on the ground, and templates to steer the thing.
The jigsaw is likely surer, but even that can be an evil problem. Be sure to wax the blade, to mark clearly where you are cutting, to tape off the adjacent area so the base doesn't scratch the mast, and to get into the most comfortable, braced position possible.
Also, watch out for conduit in the mast, plus all the other warnings I'm not thinking of at the moment. It's hard to uncut this stuff.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

just get a really sharp cookie cutter and a big hammer and 'punch' the cutout- its the fastest cleanest way.

Throwing in my two-cents. A small router (such as the type intended for trimming laminates) works very well. Still, it takes a very steady hand or a template. If you only have one or two you can always go the slow way and hand cut with a hacksaw blade.

classic!
 

I'll get right on that.. ballpeen or just plain claw hammer?? :eek:

OK.. we did some 'exploratory' procedures today w/ a couple of buddies. We put a grinder and a dremel tool to test capabilities. We hoisted the lightest of us using a bowman's harness, he used a rapelling stance, w/ a foot on the boom and another on the spin pole, pushing back on a shroud. The grinder produced the best results, moving effortlessly thru the confines of the template for the exit. We did not finish the hole, as we were out of time. The dremel is going to be great for finishing, and of course final fairing with fine sandpaper.

The technique proved feasible, but key is a solid stance and I don't recommend it without the harness and sure footing.

Best,
CJV

Abrasive wheels should not be used to work soft metals like aluminum, as the aluminum will melt and 'clog' up the abrasive wheel, which may cause it to explode into a million little eyeball piercing pieces.
I can remember one abasive cutoff wheel (granted, on a 4.5" grinder) that came out of the pacage with some dagame, which an employee didn't notice. He proceeded to try and sever some 1by19 cable... zwing!...Good thing we wear safety glasses, as his pair picked up a big gouge that day, and his hat bill got a 3/4" deep slice, and anonther emplyee standing something like 20' away got hit too. Abrasive wheels spinning at very high speed are dangerous- and really dangerous when used with aluminum.

Also, when considering the feasablity of this technique, consider that with the holesaw/jigsaw/file technique, it takes a total of 0.5 man/hr to produce a beautiful, fair, and symetrical halyard exit hole. Thats clean up time too. I just cant see the grinder producing as neat a job.

That said, it obviously has worked for you, so good job. And be careful !

Agreed, the image of using a grinder on the mast, while aloft, scares the hell out of me. It's surprising, but good for you, that it's the best pick.

I always use 2 holes, drilled several inches apart, connected using a jigsaw and filed smooth. What kind of blade were you using on the jigsaw?

For example, I just cut 2 exits in Shields mast with a good Bosch jigsaw, and it took less than 30 minutes from marking to done.

All done
 

Thanks all for the constructive advice.

Guess there had to be a downside. Yes, the aluminum ground off like butter, but interestingly did not clog the grinder wheel. I could see why that would be a discouraged practice, especially in a shop.

The dremel bit, however, did clog up right away. I switched to the flex extender and spun it down way slow, using a large cutoff wheel to finish the inside of the exits.

Anyway, perhaps the better approach might have been a diamond cutting wheel on an 18V circular w/ depth control. Recall that the key was that the mast is up, and lines, wires are alive inside.

Thanks again for the contributions.