Halyard tension at anchor

[gpshephe]

Originally Posted by patagoniadave

This is an unresearched question. MY apologies if it's been discussed to death already. I'm glad to go read old threads, but don't have the Google search option in my phone that I can find.

My halyards are internal. The guy that took me sailing Saturday told me that it's an old trick to let some tension of the jib halyard when anchored. He also set the tension on the main.

They are slapping around in the mast. If it's proper to do this, and the movement in the mast will not cause chafe, I'll learn to tune it out. If it's bad, I'll crawl out now and tighten.

On a possibly related note, since that sail, a fairly loud creak has developed in the bathroom wall directly under the mast. It only happens when little waves make the boat rock directly side to side. I think the standing rigging is slightly loose, and my rigger is hopefully coming Tuesday.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Uh, bathroom?

[svBeBe]

All halyards run over a sheave at the mast top. There is a tremendous amount of pressure on the halyard where it meets the sheave. You might want to consider 2 things:

1.) Inspect this point on the halyard where it meets the sheave regularly.
2.) Slacken the halyard when you are at anchor or in a marina for more than a few days.

[patagoniadave]

Originally Posted by svBeBe

All halyards run over a sheave at the mast top. There is a tremendous amount of pressure on the halyard where it meets the sheave. You might want to consider 2 things:

1.) Inspect this point on the halyard where it meets the sheave regularly.
2.) Slacken the halyard when you are at anchor or in a marina for more than a few days.

If I slacken the halyard too much, they bang on the inside of the mast where I cannot reach them to tie off. I am trying to find the minimum tension to keep this from happening.

Thanks for the feedback!

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by patagoniadave

If I slacken the halyard too much, they bang on the inside of the mast where I cannot reach them to tie off. I am trying to find the minimum tension to keep this from happening.

Thanks for the feedback!

The strain the halyards would be under when you tighten them down by hand with a couple cranks of the winch is a fraction of what they are under when sailing. If tightening them down well stops the slapping, go for it.

[walt41]

I could be the wires inside the mast that are slapping as the boat rolls instead of the halyards. If this is the case, you can encase the wires in foam pipe insulation the next time you remove the mast..

[patagoniadave]

It was both. Tensioning the halyards fixed most of the sounds. The wires are light in comparison

[Wolfgang.Schau]

I would always keep my halyard tight to avoid noise and annoying slacking against the mast. I pull the outside part away from the mast to avoid noisy slacking.
You neighbors may be thankful.