By fortunate coincidence I have A Capella on her road trailer and hitched up to the car outside the house at this very moment,  all ready for departure tomorrow morning for the Cruising Week.   So I can take some photos.

The choice of rope is not critical;   I used polyester braid of about 5 or 6 mm diameter because I happened to have some to hand.   I think that for this particular purpose there is some merit in the method which I chose to produce an eye at the lower end (by forming the eye and then putting on a tight seizing to make the eye permanent (or at least semi-permanent);   this has one very big advantage over splicing,  for this one application,  in that it permits one to set it up to a very precise length.    It is of course possible to produce a spliced eye with a similar precision as to total length of the rope,  but that precision in splicing takes a great deal of skill.

The rope is secured to the top of the mast using a small plastic fairlead,  which is screwed to the mast using self-taps.  You could alternatively use a strap eye,  and that could be either screwed or pop-rivetted to the mast,  as you can also see in the first photo.   I can’t now remember why A Capella has both fittings,  even though it was almost certainly myself who attached them,  many moons ago;   at any rate the strap eye is not currently used for anything.

You are also going to need a suitable strap eye or other suitable securing point on the top face of the boom,  near the aft end.   I can’t remember whether this is something that I had to supply and fit,  or whether it was already part of the boom.

I started the job by securing a sufficient length of rope to the masthead,   ensuring that it was longer than I was going to need.  I decided to terminate it in a carbine hook,  so that it can be just clipped onto the strap eye at the end of the boom;  I used the closed type of carbine hook,  which has a complete ring at the narrow end,  so the rope is captive;   with the open type there is a risk that when not under tension the rope could migrate down the carbine hook,  and then when the hook is opened it becomes possible for the rope to become detached  –  which we don’t want.

Then on a day of light winds I rigged her,  including the mainsail,  and put some tension on the kicker.  At that point the end of the boom is as low as it is ever going to be in normal sailing,  and the length of the topping lift can be adjusted to match the height of the boom end.       Pass the rope through the ring at the narrow end of the carbine hook,  and just take up the slack,  but without putting any noticeable tension on the rope.    Apply a seizing to secure the end of the rope back on itself,  and cut off most of the surplus,  but leave a few inches spare,  to allow for later adjustments if found necessary.   Preferably use a hot knife to make the cut (so it melts its way through the rope,  leaving the ends neatly and securely fused,  so the rope doesn’t unravel afterwards.

The second photo shows the lower end,  but in a completely different context.  The boat is prepared for a road journey,  so instead of the topping lift being clipped to the boom it is parked by clipping it onto the spinnaker pole ring on the mast,  and then it also serves to park the end of the genoa halliard,  etc.   But I hope you can still see what it is when shorn of the temporary appendages.

Ideally you will find that this supports the boom at a comfortable height when the sail is dropped,  or while reefing,  but in normal sailing the topping lift is always not quite under tension,  so it never interferes with the shape of the sail.   But this is the stage where you examine your handiwork critically,  and if you find that you need to lengthen the rope by an inch or so  –  and if you had the foresight to leave a few inches surplus when you cut off the majority of the surplus  –  all you need to do is undo the seizing and give it the extra inch,  and put on a fresh seizing.

Do make sure that the seizings (top and bottom) are as tight as you can make them,   and it helps to put on frapping turns as well.   Even stronger of course,  but I don’t think it is really necessary in this situation,  is a racking seizing.

If you are unfamiliar with this aspect of ropework I am sure that there are many handbooks and also online instructions which will show you how it is done.

Hope this helps,

Oliver

• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by Oliver Shaw.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by Oliver Shaw.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by Oliver Shaw.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by Oliver Shaw. Reason: Correction of typos

> On an aside is there any mechanism for searching for existing topics on the forum please?

It would be useful to have,  and you are not the first person to have asked,  but we do not at present have a search facility.

Last time the (then) Webmaster answered this it was not available on the particular package (at the current price) which we were using.   However we do keep our technology and our media channels under review,  so it is something which may yet come at some point.

Oliver

Hi Chris,

Just another take on a topping lift. Fitted before I learnt to splice.  My rope length is 12.9m and this is plenty long enough, you can probably trim shorter if so desired. (Rope used is Liros Magic Sport Line 3mm breaking strain 185kg @ 60p per mtr. ) Was going to use Marlow Excel Racing 3mm Breaking strain 460kg @ £1:30 per mtr  but thats overkill and twice the price.  Each end of the line is simply tied off with a 17mm Parrel ball ( 55p each ).   For the adjusting end I fitted a Clamcleat ( £8 ) at a convenient height at the lower end of the mast and then fitted a Ronstan cheek block near the mast top (£14 ish ) I fitted a small saddle fairlead to the top rear boom end ( £5 ).  Feed a loop of line through the saddle and then the Parrel ball through the loop, all secure in 5 secs.  Hope the pics help. Don’t forget the Duralac  Learning as I go.

Trying to upload again so fingers crossed.

Hope these help Chris, all the best.

Dave R.