Halyard stuck inside mast

[DubeJ]

Marksman, I use winch and I even with all my strength and winch leverage, its a real effort..
DD, I will attempt your idea on Sat

[JPA Cate]

To answer your essential question, can the halyard be rigged externally? Yes. They tend to bang a lot, and you'll want to tie it off when you leave the boat, or for sleeping.

There are various things you can try to free up the sheaves, depending on their construction, they may need the little bushing replaced, or the sheave itself. On a boat that size, it should be easy to hoist the main. The fact that it is not coupled with the news that the sheaves do not turn, says to me that it is the sheaves that you need to examine and repair or replace.

Ann

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by DubeJ

Marksman, I use winch and I even with all my strength and winch leverage, its a real effort..
DD, I will attempt your idea on Sat

Hi the sheaves are made round to go round. If they are frozen then they are acting as brakes, the harder you pull the halyard the greater the braking force. Free up the sheaves and provided that there is no halyard damage you should be fine.

[Marksman]

DubeJ,

Yes, it's a real grunt getting the last 10 ft. or so up the foil. The Mrs. is unable to do it and she is a stout (strong) lass. All this with wire halyards too. I need to take a tour of the upper reaches and free this up before it compounds my troubles. It's just such a long way up.

[DubeJ]

Thanks all. I'll attack and take photos this weekend and let you all know what comes of it.
Ann, how would one go about doing the external mounting of blocks?? I've never attempted such a thing and only heard about it from friends.

[JPA Cate]

Dubej,

It would take me quite a long while to write it all out step by step, so I suggest you try REALLY hard to free up those sheaves. It may take the application of heat. What kind of sheaves are they, anyway, plastic, aluminum or? If you have some channel lock pliers or something you can use to try and rotate them back and forth (if the rope method doesn't work) that can help. First line of defense is penetrating oil and the rope method, then heat and tools than can be used to try and make the sheave turn. Sometimes tapping with a hammer, helps. You may have salt buildup in there physically impairing their turning; you may have dissimilar metals' electrolytic bonding, maybe something the group hasn't yet mentioned. Usually serious attempts to free them work. Once I had a block that I heated in oil on the stove to get the oil in. You are limited only by what you can think of to try. Keep mental notes on what works for you and you can advise the next guy.

Ann

[Andrew Troup]

I have seen sheaves (made from Tufnol or Micarta or similar laminated phenolic material, sometimes wrongly called "Bakelite") particularly with wire halyards, end up splitting on the midplane (the same plane which contains the semcircular curve described by the halyard)

The halyard, in trying to disappear down the resulting crevasse, then forces the two halves against the respective cheekplates of the mast box.

[DubeJ]

Tried the channel locks, ended up marring a little so stopped. They are plastic. I've tried all the suggestions except the heat application. I'll attempt this weekend

[JPA Cate]

Dubej:

Good luck with it!

Ann

[DubeJ]

Ockham's razor suggests there is such a simple solution to this otherwise complex ridiculousness. I surrender. I've tried everything.
Tomorrow pulling out main from the mast and mounting a block externally at the head of mast for an external halyard....damnet, I'm tired of fighting it.

[Sailor g]

On another boat, I've seen the sail get folded & stuck so it couldn't be pulled out (they used an electric winch and didn't check for folds in the sail). A boat hook gently getting a little at a time worked.

[sabray]

Replace or fix the frozen turning blocks. Not so hard to do. Easier. Then re rigging the halyard to an external.


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[DubeJ]

Sabray, you make it seem so simple....not really the case. Thanks for the advice though....

[D.D.]

Did you pull out the halyard and run a new messenger line from thetop w/ a chain weight on? It seems this would find a new way and run free. Tried to understand, but if the halyard is all wire, then it's likely jumped the sheave and jamming. Would best switch to an all rope halyard, but you should also switch the sheave as they are different from a wire sheave. Can you get any pics? Don't give up yet.....internal halyards have their benefits.

[DubeJ]

I was ready to scuttle her (not really), when my neighbor came over and after a bit of arguing and trying different ideas, we got her unstuck. She remains internal and we tested her out....got all the way up and had an amazing Sunday sail. Thanks everyone for the advice, but in the end it was a little beer, muscle, arguing and manipulating that ended up fixing the issue. Ready to go...Cheers!