New Halyard

[martinmayer]

I would like to install another halyard on my boat. Please note, not replace one, install a new one. Any suggestions on how to do this? The mast is made to accept another one but I am wondering how to feed the halyard down the mast to the correct location at the base.

[JohnV]

Weight it with a bicycle chain and catch the chain with a magnet or hook at the exit hole at the bottom.

[Brion Toss]

Hello,
Best to attach the chain (or better yet, a string of large fishing weights, with one steel nut, for the magnet) to a light messenger, then pull the halyard through with the messenger. There's a reeving eye on that halyard, right?
And get weight onto the side of the boat where the exit is. And stop to think about ideal halyard layout in the mast; the traditional "main on starboard, jib on port" makes no sense for internal halyards. Oh, and if the new halyard is for a trys'l, make sure the line exits on the same side as the track. And so on.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

[Ian McColgin]

As Brion points out, it's important to lay out internal halyards - really all halyards but with external you see it and won't make this mistake - such that they lead fairly to their exit and don't cross or bear on each other.

But I want to make a small disagreement with whether it matters what side halyards and other lines are on. More generalized than "jibs to port, main to starboard" is that control lines for sails ahead of the mast go to port and those for sails behind the mast go starboard. The reason is that most people are right-handed. Positioning such that the stronger side is toward the work load when you're glancing up at the sail just makes life easier.

This practicality of course does not mean much where the lines are led through blocks and organizers back to the cockpit. For that, it's merely conventional. But if the work takes place at the mast, the convention is most practical for most (right-handed) people.

[Brion Toss]

Hi again,
I've been thinking about this one for a few days, and have a couple of issues with Ian's last post.
First, as a left-hander, I am inclined to scream in frustration every time someone justifies something because "most people are right-handed." Everything from scissors (including most "left-handed" scissors) to which side you get on a horse from is optimized for right-handers. Yes, they are the majority (about 9 out of 10), and yes I expect to accommodate that to some extent, but not where it doesn't matter significantly. And that includes, I think, halyard layout. Is it really that much harder to adjust the luff of the main depending on which side of the mast you are on? Is there any difference when adjusting the luff of the jib? I don't think so, but I do think that reversing traditional mast layout makes a difference in how fairly the halyards run inside the mast, and how fairly they run to the winches.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

[Ian McColgin]

It's not much difference at best and mostly just a better view of the sail going up so you're alert to snagging a batten under a lift or having the jib flog under the pulpit or such. But being ambidexterous, I've neither an arm nor a leg to back the hypothesis.

It's true that an awful lot of our world is set up to be hard on that sinister minority. Even the language. Perhaps it's overcoming adversity from the start that makes so many lefties such high achievers, able to make a knot at such blinding speed and better suited for coiling a lead line. In third grade penmanship when we were just getting to pens, real ink, no ball points, I envied the lefties since they had a great excuse for making a mess while I was just there to annoy the teacher.

G'luck