Leech Line Holding Jib

[thomm225]

I'm wondering how long it might last.

Sailrite - Fabric, Canvas, and Sewing Machines Since 1969

The leech line is tied to a snap hook which is holding my 120% jib to the bottom of the top swivel of my furlex furler.

The snap shackle the PO had up there bent and the jib came down while I was sailing this weekend.

After I got the halyard back down, I didn't have a good replacement shackle so I used a piece leech line I had. It worked okay yesterday.

I probably do need to tie a piece of line to top of the halyard though in case it breaks. I was a pain getting the halyard down before without climbing gear

[cal40john]

Dacron is the trademark name for polyester, so it should hold up as long as anything like XLS Samson braid in terms of UV degradation.

Or are you saying you only put one loop on instead of several so a 1/8th inch line is in the system with larger diameter line that you are tensioning with a winch?

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by cal40john

Dacron is the trademark name for polyester, so it should hold up as long as anything like XLS Samson braid in terms of UV degradation.

Or are you saying you only put one loop on instead of several so a 1/8th inch line is in the system with larger diameter line that you are tensioning with a winch?

Two loops thru the snap hook and lower section of the top swivel of the furler

Fixed Eye / Swivel Eye Snap Hooks : Attwood Marine

then tied with a few square knots. I tightened the luff a bit with the winch on the mast I use for the main but then moved the halyard by hand to the opposite side cleat so it may have lost a bit of tensioning.

I was just thinking what if I were cruising and this happened. I sailed yesterday but the wind stayed below 11 knots or so.

[cal40john]

Samson recommends for a boat about your size 3/8ths, New England 10 mm, XLS breaking is 4400 lbs, assume working 10%, so 400 lbs working load (assuming halyard diameter is being determined by strength needed and not what is comfortable to your hand).

That eye hook has no support on the opening side, this is a silly part to have here, at best the working load listed for them is half what you could be applying. It is no wonder it bent. (The snap shackle in your picture has no relationship to the link given, is the eye hook not in your picture?)

Making the rash assumption that line strength is proportional to cross sectional area, you need 9 passes of the leechline, or about 5 loops to have about the same strength as your halyard.


http://www.samsonrope.com/Documents/..._Guide_WEB.pdf

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by cal40john

Samson recommends for a boat about your size 3/8ths, New England 10 mm, XLS breaking is 4400 lbs, assume working 10%, so 400 lbs working load (assuming halyard diameter is being determined by strength needed and not what is comfortable to your hand).

That eye hook has no support on the opening side, this is a silly part to have here, at best the working load listed for them is half what you could be applying. It is no wonder it bent. (The snap shackle in your picture has no relationship to the link given, is the eye hook not in your picture?)

Making the rash assumption that line strength is proportional to cross sectional area, you need 9 passes of the leechline, or about 5 loops to have about the same strength as your halyard.


http://www.samsonrope.com/Documents/..._Guide_WEB.pdf

I just used what I had available so I could sail yesterday

I let all my spare parts go when I sold my last racing boat in 2006 so all I had were the parts and peices the PO left on the boat.

I'll buy a couple shackles tonight and replace my leechline and snap hook sometime this week.

I found that picture on the internet. My top swivel is on the boat.

The snap shackle that bent was like this one:

http://www.nauticexpo.com/prod/king-...85-274765.html

The pin was thru the eye on the top swivel and the snap part thru the sail

Halyard has a locking shackle similar to this:

http://www.hamma.eu/5mm-halyard-shac...n-ss316-s365lk

Both parts at least 10 years on the boat including the halyard

[barnakiel]

It will last. Maybe years, if you gave it more than one turn.

But why not use a piece of spectra there?

b.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

It will last. Maybe years, if you gave it more than one turn.

But why not use a piece of spectra there?

b.

I didn't have any spectra on Sunday Morning, but the tensile strength of the leech line doubled should be around 1000 lbs plus

http://www.sailrite.com/Leechline-Dacron-1-8

But I do have one of these attached to a double block I could use or could have used. It was attached to the PO's dinghy davit lines

https://www.westcoastsailing.net/def...les/rf803.html

[barnakiel]

At times the improvised solution fares better than the original one. I noticed once I replaced the notoriously troublesome interfaces with spectra loops, they stopped breaking down.

My partner always laughs at me saying I am a tao freak. I am not sure what she means by tao ;-)

Still, our vang and the tack of our genoa has been soft-tied to the hardware for more than 20k miles and I am 100% happy I gave up on SS shackles there.

Cheers,
b.

[thomm225]

I had a shackle come loose years ago on a Nacra 6.0 jib clew.

After regaining control of the jib, I tied the jib sheets to the clew with a piece of line and raced that day plus a few more. This back in the late 90's.

I'm always thinking how they didn't have the internet or a West Marine etc back in the day to find replacement parts so easily

There's a Tartan 34C across the dock from me that hasn't moved in a while. They have the backstay attached to the transom with a piece of rather thin nylon rope. (3 loops)

I've never seen sails on this boat though. They motored it in last year and it hasn't moved since.