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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

The Claw - a halyard's tale

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JimGo
Admiral

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USA
962 Posts

Initially Posted - 10/12/2011 : 06:42:28

As most of you know, I recently purchased a boat. When I first went to see her, it was shortly after Hurricane Irene. I walked around the boat, checking for any possible damage from the storm (or other problems), then poked around inside. I finally asked the owner to hoist the sails so I could see them. The roller furled jib was easy. He then went to hoist the main, and as he gave the halyard a good pull, he realized that he had never hooked the halyard to the sail. The momentum from his pull, coupled with the weight of the sheet and the wire line, caused the halyard to quickly raise to the top of the mast. I wound up inspecting the main by hand, instead.

When I went to pay for the boat the following weekend, the halyard was still an issue. Fortunately, from what I'd read here and elsewhere, I had devised a plan. I originally went to Home Depot and purchased 5 pieces of 4'x 1/2" PVC, and couplers, with the hope that it would be stable enough to reach the top of the mast. I tested it at home, and quickly realized it just wouldn't be strong/stable enough. So took the PVC back and purchased an [url="http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100177392/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053"] extension pole that can be as long as 23 feet[/url]. When fully extended, the thing isn't the most stable pole, but it was relatively light weight and could be controled well enough for my purposes. The extension pole has a threaded end for accepting paint roller handles or other such attachments. As luck would have it, I have a few small trim roller handles sitting around, and I made one of these:

I call it The Claw. It's an old wire coat hanger cut into 3 pieces. First, I cut the "wings" off the hanger, which left me with two "V" shaped pieces and a hook that had small "arms" at the end opposite the hook. I took the hook part and wrapped the little arms around the base of the roller handle. I then stacked the two "V" shaped wings on top of each other, and duct taped them to the roller handle. A few bends of the ends, and the claw was born. You'll note that the hooks are at different heights, and all packed fairly close together. This proved to be the key. I originally thought that having the hooks spaced farther apart would help because the hooks would push the halyard out of the way, but that turned out not to be the case. The D connector at the end of the halyard was small enough that it didn't get pushed out of the way, and having multiple hooks grab the connector and wire line turned out to be beneficial.

It also took a little experimenting to find a good angle for the claw hooks - they need to be closed tighter than you think (nearly pointing back on themselves, or a curve of almost 180 degrees) to prevent the D ring from slipping off as you pull down. In all, I think it took us MAYBE 10 minutes to get the halyard down.

I hope not to run into this problem again (I'll be attaching a messenger line!), but if I do, another idea I'd read about was attaching a line to the claw so I can control it, and actually hoisting the claw on the jib halyard so I can grab the main halyard. That might work, too!

Anyway, thought I'd share a quick and easy way to get the stuck halyard down.

- Jim
Formerly of 1984 C25 named Dragon Wing

NOTE: In my case, PLEASE don't confuse stars/number of posts with actual knowledge. On any topic.

Edited by - JimGo on 12/19/2011 09:17:09

JimGo
Admiral

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USA
962 Posts

Response Posted - 10/12/2011 : 06:44:06

Sorry, I'm going to have to figure out how to downsize the pictures that are uploaded to Photobucket.

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Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9081 Posts

Response Posted - 10/12/2011 : 07:08:28

Great work Jim! The mark of a true engineer! On a different boat, I did the "other halyard" thing with a messenger line and a treble fish hook. We were able to grab the shackle with the hook, but had to keep some tension on the wayward halyard as the hook pulled it down. Obviously this won't work on newer C-25s with internal halyards... Yours is universal (for a mast that isn't 50'+).

I've seen some little weights supposedly "designed" to be attached to the shackle-end of a halyard to prevent it from taking an express ride to the top--kinda silly... (and added weight aloft if you leave them on).

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redeye
Master Marine Consultant

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3476 Posts

Response Posted - 10/12/2011 : 07:09:54

Yepper.. we lost one when we last dropped the mast .. I thought I was going to have to lean it back again, but we got it with the boat hook.

Thanks for showing us your solution.

Edited by - on

redeye
Master Marine Consultant

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3476 Posts

Response Posted - 10/12/2011 : 07:12:34

Slick Dave... Gotta add that Rapala Lure onboard!

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sfsmith
Navigator

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USA
123 Posts

Response Posted - 10/12/2011 : 07:19:04

Ah, duct tape and coat hanger wire. A little ingenuity and those materials have solved many a problem.

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OJ
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4382 Posts

Response Posted - 10/12/2011 : 07:46:43

Would go well with my Halloween costume!

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pastmember
Master Marine Consultant

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2402 Posts

Response Posted - 10/12/2011 : 08:30:21

Get rid of wire to rope halyards.

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JimGo
Admiral

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USA
962 Posts

Response Posted - 10/12/2011 : 08:35:54

That's on my list, Frank. As is converting to internal halyards. But everyone said not to make changes to the boat until I was on her more!

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PCP777
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1225 Posts

Response Posted - 10/12/2011 : 08:59:58

I got me a skinny chick, who I can hoist up the mast, and she loves doing it too.

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OJ
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4382 Posts

Response Posted - 10/12/2011 : 10:25:36

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by PCP777
 I got me a skinny chick, who I can hoist up the mast, and she loves doing it too.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Okay Peter, this begs the question - mast or pole?

Edited by - OJ on 10/12/2011 10:35:41

PCP777
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1225 Posts

Response Posted - 10/12/2011 : 11:49:04

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by OJ
 <blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by PCP777
 I got me a skinny chick, who I can hoist up the mast, and she loves doing it too.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Okay Peter, this begs the question - mast or pole?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

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Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9081 Posts

Response Posted - 10/12/2011 : 12:52:09

Hmmm... OJ... Are you suggesting a whole new meaning to the phrase "sailing on a bare pole"?

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