Climbing the mast on the spinnaker halyard?

[Exile]

Originally Posted by roverhi

Have been sailing with tied on rope halyards for many decades and many many thousands of miles with the dual purpose sheaves at the mast head. Those are the ones with an outer rope sheave and an inner groove for wire. Current boat had wire halyards for nearly 40 years and had no problems converting to rope. Have never had an issue with wear on the halyard at the sheaves. Will bet if you look at your mast head sheaves, that they are these dual purpose sheaves. Ditch the wire halyards and metal shackles and go with Vectran/Dyneema halyards tied on with Buntline hitch or bowline.

I bet my masthead sheaves are dual purpose as you describe as well. The problem is that they are enclosed within the sheave box and it seems impossible to see what they are without removal. A few years ago I opted to replace the halyards with all rope but was advised against for fear the rope would get caught in the inner groove designed for the wire. Probably not a huge job to remove them without removing the stick, but haven't gotten around to it yet. In any event, thank you for the information & advice.


There are two rings on the Top climber seat webbing where you attach the climbing hard ware. Move the ascender from the top ring to the lowest ring and you'll be able to get above the mast head. Climbing takes longer with the ascender shackled to the lower ring because of the shortened travel but gets you above the mast head. Only took me a couple of years and many trips up the mast to figure that out.

That sounds like a great suggestion that could very well resolve it. If it's in the ATN literature I must have missed it. I'm away from the boat & the ATN for another few weeks but look forward to checking it out when I return.

Again, many thanks.