getting to the top

[John Hanrahan]

Good morning gang,

I am wondering how to get to the top of the mast to change my antennae without dropping the sail to use the main halyard.  

The spinnaker halyard only goes as high as the fractional rig.

The topping lift is too light.

Any suggestions?

John

[Arne Opperud]

Hi John

I would recommend upgrading the boom lift to a quality that can be a backup for your main halyard. It is sensible to have an extra main halyard.

Br

Arne

[Mike Brown]

The guys at my dealer always use the topping lift as it has a working limit of 2000lbs. Just the same I'd drop the main and use that big fat halyard and be a lot less stressed.

Mike

[John Hanrahan]

Thanks for the quick response guys.  Mike, I agree, rated at 2000 lb capacity should be fine but I would feel, (more importantly the guy going up would feel) much more secure with a heavier line.

Another question on our Quick High Performance windlass.  Can anyone confirm the size of chain. Is it metric or imperial?

Does anyone know if it has a hand crank option and how it works.

Thanks John

[Mike Brown]

John, I used 3/8 HT on our 43 and it ran through smoothly. The gypsy or capstan are supposed to be marked with the proper size but I never was able to find it on ours.

As for a hand crank option yes it does have it. There should be a small winch handle snapped in next to the windlass. There are two sockets it'll fit into, one is for breaking the capstan loose, the other to hand crank the chain/anchor back in. I found it woefully inadequate for retrieving the chain/anchor and did so by hand which wasn't easy either, especially with mud all over it. Just remember to ensure the capstan is locked down tight after removing it. If it's not tight enough it'll slip allowing the chain to slip back out once there's enough weight to overcome the marginal friction. I only had that problem once LOL.

Mike

[John Hanrahan]

Good day gang,

I have decided to use a heavier line as Mike suggested for the topping lift to be comfortable going to the top of the mast.  Today I ran across another 43 in Green turtle and he told me he uses his spinnaker halyard.  When I looked up to check his it did in fact go to the top of the mast but it does not go through the small stainless collector where the jib meet the mast.  The stainless container is there but he doesn't use it.  I would think that the container is there to ensure the spinnaker halyard does not foul the jib halyard.  Does anyone else have some thoughts on feeding the spinnaker halyard through the stainless collector or not.

Thanks ,  John 

[John Hanrahan]

Good day gang,

I have decided to use a heavier line as Mike suggested for the topping lift to be comfortable going to the top of the mast.  Today I ran across another 43 in Green turtle and he told me he uses his spinnaker halyard.  When I looked up to check his it did in fact go to the top of the mast but it does not go through the small stainless collector where the jib meet the mast.  The stainless collector is there but he doesn't use it.  I would think that the collector is there to ensure the spinnaker halyard does not foul the jib halyard.  Does anyone else have some thoughts on feeding the spinnaker halyard through the stainless collector or not.

Thanks ,  John 

[Mike Brown]

John, the eye the spinaker halyard runs through is there to reduce stress at the top of the mast. If you never fly a chute then you’d be fine threading it from the sheave at the masthead. If you do hoist a chute then from what I’ve been told by the svc mgr it will place undue stress at the top of the mast. 

Mike