GP14 Sailing Forums Forum Wire halyard and reefing

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    • #6711
      WhereItStarted
      Participant

      I have recently bought a series 1 boat and intend to use it for cruising mainly. However, with a wire main halyard and hook rack on the mast and centre main, I am wondering what arrangement most people use for reefing in this situation?

      The obvious choice for the main is slab reefing (with a centre main) but with the main lowered under reefing, the wire will not hook on the rack.  I suppose a length of rope could be added to the top of the main halyard but that would involve lowering the main completely underway, not ideal. Changing to an all rope halyard will mean changing the sheaves, as they are narrower and will eventually wear the rope and adding some form of cleat to the mast.

      Do people use a sliding gooseneck and is one available?

      Any obvious choices?

    • #6712
      Oliver Shaw
      Moderator

      Dare I recommend that you refer to the paper on Reefing Systems in the Members’ Library on this site?   Perhaps I shouldn’t recommend you to it,  since I wrote it,  but there is far more there than can be sensible accommodated within this Forum.

       

      Undoubtedly you need to change to a rope halliard,  not just for the reason you mention,  but because you cannot just cleat off the rope tail and use the halliard in that mode,  as it would be a grossly unfair strain on the wire to rope join,  particularly if this is not a prober rope to wire splice but the almost ubiquitous pair of interlocking soft eye splices.

       

      Theoretically you are right that you need to change the sheaves,  but you may well find that you can get away with not changing them.     If you use dyneema,  you need have no concerns about stretch in teh halliard,  and for practical purposes (especially zwhen not racing at top level) even pre-stretched polyester is likely to be near enough non-stretch to present no problems.    On my previous GP14 I changed the wire halliard to 5 mm three-strand prestretched polyester,  and by the time I sold the boat three or four years later there was no sign of wear on the halliard.   On my current boat I have been using the same 6 mm dyneema halliard ever since I had the boat built,  although it is very slightly too fat and thus there is more friction than I would wish;    since there is still no sign of wear,  ten years after the boat was first launched,  I have just been too parsimonious to change it.

       

      I believe that Allen do indeed make sliding goosenecks,  but this is of no relevance whatever for reefing,  and for two reasons.      First,  the total travel of a sliding gooseneck is nothing like the depth of reef you need even for the first reef,  and I recommend that yiou use two,  with the first of them a deep reef;   see the paper referenced above for the rationale behind this,  and the recommended depths,  and my experiences of using those depths.    Second,  if you need to reef,  one of the benefits of a good reefing system is that the sail plan is lowered,  as well as being merely reduced;   you don’t want to simply lift the bottom of the sailplan,  still leeving maximum leverage for the heeling moment.

       

      You will indeed need to fit a cleat to the mast,  and I recommend a clamcleat.   Fit this in place of the rack of hooks;   even on your occasional return to the racing circuit you can still win races with your rope halliard if your skill level is up to it.

       

      Whether to stay with the centre main or revert to transom main is a matter of personal choice.   However I think that although the centre main has certain advantages for racing,  I personally prefer transom main for cruising,  and it seems that so do a majority of cruising sailors.    Indeed there are even owners who have their boats set up to allow them the choice,  and they rig their centre mains when racing and their transom mains when cruising.   Not the least of the benefits of the transom main when cruising are more space in the boat,  and the fact that when gybing in waves you can stand facing aft and choose your moment – and indeed you wave  –  and then whip the boom smartly across at your chosen moment by grabbing the two parts of the mainsheet.    Unlike the racing gybe,  you have no requirement to do it at a geographically precise location (adjacent to the gybe mark),   so you can place it to suit the seas (and sometimes the wind).

       

      Hope this helps,

       

       

      Oliver

    • #6713
      Oliver Shaw
      Moderator

      I should have added that I have known a number of cruising owners use 4 mm dyneema for the main halliard.    That should be amply strong enough,  still extremely low stretch,  and will fit the sheaves well,  and should render freely.

       

      If you use a suitable clamcleat,  cleating off 4 mm dyneema should present no problem,  although I can imagine serious problems trying to cleat it on a horn cleat.

       

      And of course,  as with any main halliard configuration in any material at all,   you masthead the sail first,  then cleat off the halliard under comfortable tension,  and only once it is cleated do you pull the boom down onto the gooseneck (or the obvious adaptation to that if you have the benefit of a sliding gooseneck).    Sorry if I appear to be teaching Grandmother to such eggs in saying that,  but believe it or not I still see people putting the boom on the (fixed) gooseneck first,  before hoisting the sail;   then,  inevitably,  it sets like a pair of old lady’s drawers.

       

       

      Oliver

    • #7005
      Davegp
      Participant

      Oliver

      Thanks also for your useful reply to my thread about cruising sails – just been researching reefing systems so came across this thread.  Really interested in the idea of transom main for cruising, and sorry if this is a really basic question, but would you be able to give a brief description of how that might be achieved? My GP is currently centre main, with a split sheet ending at each stern corner of the transom.  I’d obviously need to put  a bottom block somewhere on the transom  – so would this have to be on a rope ‘horse’ to take it over the tiller? – I understand that early GP’s had some form of metal horse for this purpose.  Any guidance you can give would be great.

    • #7017
      Oliver Shaw
      Moderator

      I confess that I had never given any thought to advising someone unfamiliar with the various transom sheeting options how to retrofit one to the boat.   I have numerous photos available,  and I think it would be worth putting a paper together,  which I shall aim to do very shortly.

       

      Meanwhile if you like to email me,  via the Association Office,  I can then send it to yoiu when it is ready.

       

       

       

      Oliver

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