Stuck main halyard

[Will Bowman]

Thank you for welcoming me to your forum. Recently I purchased a 1970 32 ft ericson. It appears it has been used as a party boat and shows some neglect. The main halyard appears to be taped, at the top of the mast, to the jib side cable. I am unable to raise or lower either cable. Any suggestions would be great. Keep in mind, I am 73 yrs old and don't care to go up the mast yet. I used my telephoto camera lens to take a photo of it and was able to enlarge it on my computer so I was afforded a good look at the tape. I feel someone taped the cables to stop any noise and over time the tape crept up the mast.

[Suijin]

Welcome to the forums.

Either go up the mast (or have someone else do it) or just pull really hard on the halyard until it comes free of the tape. I can't imagine any tape that is stronger than halyard and cable.

OR, take it to a marina with a cherry picker and have them inspect the top and remove the tape.

No other ideas I can think of. Certainly a picture of what you're looking at would be helpful.

[leftbrainstuff]

Can you whip the halyard so it wears through the tape?

[Calif.Ted]

You do have BOTH ends of the halyards on deck right ?
Sounds like there should be 1 rope and 1 wire end for each halyard.

[donradcliffe]

I just had to free up a halyard on a seldom used Olson 30. The problem was the shiv was corroded and stuck inside the mast.

I used the YC small boat hoist to pull the mast out and work on it. I could have probably done the work in place, but it involved hammering small parts out of the mast and lining things up to replace them, and it was a hell of a lot easier on the ground. I'm replacing the windex, tricolor, vhf antenna, wiring, and standing rigging while the mast is down. Good winter project.

[SecondBase]

Can you haul and ease your halyard?

Send a taped smart phone up the mast to get close ups "before surgery".

Tape 2 pencils parallel to the halyard. Tape a razor blade on each side of the halyard-pencil with a little blade exposed. Have a helper with binos "guide" you and saw away.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Originally Posted by SecondBase

Can you haul and ease your halyard?

Send a taped smart phone up the mast to get close ups "before surgery".

Tape 2 pencils parallel to the halyard. Tape a razor blade on each side of the halyard-pencil with a little blade exposed. Have a helper with binos "guide" you and saw away.

Ouch! The above could be both painful, & expensive. AKA a last resort at best.

My question would be, is there possibly a whipping, or siezing holding the two lines together underneath of the tape? Which, if forcefully cranking on the halyards doesn't dislodge the tape, then it's distinctly possible that there's something more substantive there. With the best way to find out being a close up, eyes & hands on inspection.

Post the pics, we're happy to take a look. Though rarely does it hurt to have a live human inspect things.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Will.