Main halyard attachment to Yard (2009 BR20)

[Colin Lawson]

Can anyone help? I have recently bought a 2009 BR20 and the main halyard attachment to the yard does not seem quite right. The first photo shows the positions where the halyard is attached when reefed. I think I understand this - tie the pennant around the yard with the halyard inside the pennant as shown in the next photo.  What puzzles me is the attachment when not reefed - see third photo.  There is a cleat positioned so that it is just below the slot (left hand of photo is the higher end of the yard) and the halyard has a loop, how does this attach to the yard cleat without putting tension on the cleat or sail? For reefing I have simply looped the halyard around the cleat so that halyard gives up ward tension on yard (photo No4).  But how is the halyard loop arranged around the cleat to give tension against the mast and upward tension on the yard? Thanks in advance for any help, my solutions all seem to be a bit Heath Robinson.

Colin  (hope to launch at Poole Harbour the end of this week)

[Jeff Curtis]

It's a bit of a fiddle but you thread the looped end of the halyard through the sail pocket towards the lower, open end of the pocket then loop it over the end of the yard and pull it back. The halyard then emerges out of the hole in the pocket with the loop trapped by the cleat. Make sure the cleat faces away from the mast. Or you can unscrew the cleat, position the loop and replace the cleat.

To reef, lash the halyard to the yard with the appropriate reefing line. You can then only hoist the yard as far as the lashing.

Hope you enjoy your BayRaider.

[Colin Lawson]

Thanks Jeff, that all makes sense. I now realise that what has confused me is that the jaws on the yard bend to the same side as the cleat and the attachments for the reefing lines (pennants) i.e. when you raise the yard the cleat is on the same side as the mast (which did not seem right). I did not check whether or not the jaws could be rotated in the yard as I had assumed that they were fixed to ensure the yard is water tight. So either the jaws can rotate and I can fix that tomorrow (and I have been an idiot for not spotting this) or my particular yard has been assembled incorrectly i.e. cleat on same side as direction of bend of jaws or a previous owner has managed to swivel the jaws round (or I am still misunderstanding the problem).  Anyway I will check tomorrow.
Thanks for your help Jeff.

Colin

[Jeff Curtis]

If your yard is like mine it will be in two pieces so you can swivel the cleat away from the mast. Not too sure about the later models though. The bullseyes that locate the reefing pennants should also face away from the mast so that when reefed the yard can sit nice and snug against the mast.

[Colin Lawson]

I suspect you are right Jeff - there is a join, but again I did not check that the two halves could swivel. So I cannot blame incorrect assembly or previous owners.  Thanks again.

Colin

[Colin Lawson]

OK Have had a look at the yard and the cleat is below the join i.e. on the same section of the yard that has the jaws, and the cleat is definitely on the wrong side i.e. on same side as jaws bend. So it looks as if either I refit the cleat on the correct side (easiest) or rotate the jaws (looks difficult as they are well and truly sikaflexed in). (I don't think the other fittings/bullseyes are needed so I could just remove them). Or go immediately for the solution suggested by Claus elsewhere on this forum where I do away will all fittings and drill a through hole for the halyard which then has a figure of 8 knot to secure (plus the suggestions Claus made for making sure the yard remained watertight). I will mull this over.

Colin   

NB: As far as I can see the previous two owners have been sailing with the fittings on the wrong side of the yard.

[Colin Lawson]

We had a successful first sail in our new (2009) Bayraider. Everything went well - launch and recovery worked just as it is supposed to, despite some learning opportunities (mistakes) i.e. trying to tackle a slipway without retracting the extending arms (for lighting board).  We only had light winds but were doing 3-4 knots comfortably. The issue of the cleat being on the wrong side of the yard did not seem to be much of an issue after all, although it is going to take more adjustment and skill to improve sail trim - the top part of the leach of the sail was a bit loose/flappy and the angle of the yard to the mast did not look right - all things to be perfected over the next few months. Installing I think a tack down haul will be high on the list of jobs.

A pleasing first outing.

Colin

[Graham W]

Or go immediately for the solution suggested by Claus elsewhere on this forum where I do away will all fittings and drill a through hole for the halyard which then has a figure of 8 knot to secure (plus the suggestions Claus made for making sure the yard remained watertight). I will mull this over.

I have implemented this and it works much better than the hook and bracket system.  One small issue is that an 8.5mm hole can be too small for an 8mm halyard if the latter has the usual heat seal bobbles on the end. I have solved this by splicing a small dIameter leading line on the end of the halyard to feed through the hole, allowing me quickly to pull the rest of the halyard through from the other side.

[Colin Lawson]

I have implemented this and it works much better than the hook and bracket system.  One small issue is that an 8.5mm hole can be too small for an 8mm halyard if the latter has the usual heat seal bobbles on the end. I have solved this by splicing a small dIameter leading line on the end of the halyard to feed through the hole, allowing me quickly to pull the rest of the halyard through from the other side.

Thanks Graham, that sounds like a useful idea - I will add the leading line to my to do list for when I tackle this project.

What do people do about the reefing points? We did not get round to reefing on our first sail. Can you get away with just running the main halyard up from its normal attachment point and though a short reefing line around both the halyard and the Yard? i.e. having removed the small bullseyes that locate the reefing lines but which come between the yard and the mast? Or does this mean the unrestrained reefing lines will slide down the yard?

[Graham W]

I have 8.5mm holes in the yard at the full mainsail halyard position and also at the two reefing points, so the procedure of feeding the halyard through the pole and fixing with a stopper knot is the same however the sail is reefed. I removed all the old bullseyes to make way for these holes.

[Colin Lawson]

Thanks Graham.  I will do the same.  This is a great forum for advice - hope I will be contributing in the future.

One more question: as seen in the attached photo the yard on my BR is not vertical - the bottom of the yard and jaws twist around the mast allowing the yard to be inclined to one side. I did not get round to investigating this last week but can this be corrected simply by greater luff tension? i.e. greater main halyard tension or use of a luff downhaul or is there something I have overlooked?  Thanks in advance for any comments.

Colin

[Graham W]

the bottom of the yard and jaws twist around the mast allowing the yard to be inclined to one side.

I used to have the same problem, which had several causes that I eliminated one by one:
1.  My gaff jaws were too tight (they needed pushing apart a bit), which meant that the yard tended to twist around the mast and then get stuck in one less than aerodynamic position
2.  However you attach the halyard to the yard, the angle of pull up towards the wooden block on the back of the mast must be absolutely central.  If the halyard attachment is slightly squint on the yard, the yard will not go up square.  Claus's halyard through a hole suggestion eliminates this problem
3. Make sure that the yard is properly tight against the mast, which is difficult to achieve if you get the first two wrong
4. If your halyard is stretchy, the yard may fall away from the mast a bit when it is windy.  I now use Dyneema for the halyard

[Colin Lawson]

Thanks again Graham, I will try out all your suggestions and report back.

Colin

[Colin Lawson]

I have implemented this and it works much better than the hook and bracket system.  One small issue is that an 8.5mm hole can be too small for an 8mm halyard if the latter has the usual heat seal bobbles on the end. I have solved this by splicing a small dIameter leading line on the end of the halyard to feed through the hole, allowing me quickly to pull the rest of the halyard through from the other side.

Hi Graham, I have tried the 8.5 mm hole and, as you warned, this has turned out to be too small for the halyard.  I have tried various ways of splicing the end of the halyard to a thinner line but have not been successful in solving the problem of getting the halyard through the 8.5 mm hole. How did you splice your narrower line to the halyard or do you recommend I go straight for Dyneema?  Is the Dyneema of the same diameter?  - does it solve my problem as well as give reduced stretch?  Thanks in advance for any advice,

Colin

[Graham W]

Colin,

Sorry for using confusing terminology - I should have said that I seized and whipped my narrow diameter line to the 8mm main halyard, which is made of what Jimmy Green call Cruising Dyneema.

My technique was to milk the outer sheath back from the Dyneema core, reduce the length of the core by about 10 to 15 cm and taper the reduced end of the core slightly for the distance that you will be seizing and whipping over it to the smaller diameter line (so that it is no bulkier than the original core).  Then pull the sheath back over the two attached ends and finish off by seizing and whipping the sheath to the smaller diameter line. I would post a photo but the boat is 2 hours away.

As an alternative to Cruising Dyneema, 12 braid Dyneema is fairly squishy, so it ought to be possible to reduce the diameter of the halyard end by simply whipping over it (perhaps having tapered the end a little first).

Elf n  Safety oblige me to point out that the whipped/seized/tapered part of the halyard should be a safe distance beyond the knot that you use to lock the halyard through the hole in the yard.

Graham