Mast head lock

I am tempted to do this on my contender.  The wire halyard is fraying and keeps jamming in the sheave at the top.  I know the sheave will need replacing anyway, but this sort of stuff is so much easier with a decent line and an external halyard.  Good or bad idea on this class of boat?  it's a carbon spar.

edited to say if yes what line would be best?


Edited by winging it - 14 Jan 13 at 6:45pm

Originally posted by batman but isnt this putting the rig under far compression that a main halyard would?

Which is why certain classes don't use jib halyards.

The compression puts extra bend in a mast. Provided that the mast stiffness is correct with the halyard loads this is not that much of an issue, but you should be able to use a lighter or more flexible section without halyard compression. I have an excessively bendy topmast on my IC for my current waistline, and putting a main halyard lock on made a very substantial difference to keeping the rig powered up.

If your rig is over bending then a halyard lock may help. If its already on the stiff side then a halyard lock will probaby make things worse!

Edited by JimC - 14 Jan 13 at 5:22pm

It's not just compression. In the normal situation where the halyard is made fast at the base of the mast somewhere when the mast bends the distance head to heel reduces so the halyard slackens and the main comes down a bit.



Edited by SoggyBadger - 14 Jan 13 at 4:02pm