Cutting New Halyard Exits

[Brian Duff]

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 !

[Brion Toss]

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

[CJV]

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.

[Brion Toss]

Originally Posted by CJV

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.

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

[CJV]

Originally Posted by Brion Toss

Hi again,
...also try rubbing some beeswax on the jigsaw blade before cutting. Reapply after each cut.

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

[Brion Toss]

Originally Posted by CJV

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

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

[CJV]

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.

[Brion Toss]

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

[Brian Duff]

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

[Matthew Sebring]

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.