Hi SeaBreezers,

To begin at the beginning, I must pay my respects to all those whose posts on this forum have been an invaluable source of knowledge and wisdom. Many thanks for being so generous with your experience.

As background, I bought my first yacht, a Currawong 30 located at Pittwater, in May of this year but being in Melbourne, we have only be able to visit her once during the brief period between lock downs. I'm planning the delivery trip (with a qualified delivery skipper) to the Gippsland Lakes for December this year. In the meantime, I'm arranging to have both the standing and running rigging replaced. The standing rigging is at least 17 years old and most of the running rigging is in poor condition (the jib furling line parted while sailing during our visit). Unfortunately, it doesn't look as though we will be able to get up to Pittwater when the work is being done due to the current lock down.

I would appreciate some guidance on a couple of things.

First, given that the mast will be out when the standing rigging is replaced this would be a good time to check for any corrosion. Previous posts on Currawongs and Brolgas suggest checking the base of the mast and the plate on which it sits. Any other areas specific to these boats that would be worth investigating?

Second, I'm expecting that most of our time sailing will be single or short-handed. To make this easier and safer, I'd like to run the sail controls back to the cockpit, most are currently at the mast. And here I must thank Ramona for sending me a drawing of the rope arrangement on his Currawong 30. I'm not sure a novice such as I could cope with 18 lines at the cockpit.

So, what sail controls would you recommend be brought back to the cockpit as a compromise between complexity, ease of use and efficient sailing? At present, I'm converging on the following: main halyard, vang, outhaul, main topping lift, Cunningham, first reef tack, first reef clew, second reef tack, second reef clew (the current main has only 2 reefing points). This is a total of 9 controls. It's possible we could leave out the topping lift and use a spring vang to get this down to 8.

A search of previous SeaBreeze posts turned up an interesting discussion of reefing systems but I didn't find any discussion on which controls should be brought back. Perhaps personal preference plays too large a part?

Thanks again for all past help and in advance for this help.

Cheers, Peter

Having done a Currawong Reno just cut to the chase and remove the mast frame and get it regalvinized now.
you have to cut it out as the bunk sides are built with it already in the boat.

As to running rigging on Defiance I went completely the other way and removed everything coming back to the cockpit.

All the halyards are at the mast as you have to go to the mast or the foredeck to drop the sails and gather them in.
Equally even with a fuller you are not pulling the sail up so rarely touch the halyard.

Easier to stand near the mast with the halyard tail while dropping the sail. Much more controlled and you do not need to keep running back to the cockpit if single handed.

There are two small self tailing winches on the mast with spin lock jammers on the halyards to free up the winches.

Same for reefing as the reef lines are very short and not under much load and you still need to gather the sail in after one reef.

Again for hoisting and dropping a spinnaker that is much easier from the mast than the cockpit.
Only control led back is the pole downhaul as that is adjusted often.

Agree it is personal preference but happy with the choice I made and the cabin roof fittings do not leak!

Simple tiller pilot keeps the boat head to wind or whatever for doing all of this so single handed is fine and easy.

Im with Lydia on this one.
on a boat that size its so quick and easy to reef at the mast that it may not be worth all the added friction and nuisance running lines back.

Whilst or Top Hat is 5 feet shorter, we do have all the lines back to the top of the coach roof. However, we're not racers and we're almost always either one or two on board only.

From Port to Starboard.
Furling line, run along the staunchions and up to a small cleat near the traveller.
Spinnaker Topping Lift - which has never been used since 2009.....
Spinnaker Halyard - also never used.
Main Halyard via rope jammer to a small single speed winch - sail drops into a stack bag.
Boom Vang to a rope jammer
Headsail Halyard via rope jammer to small single speed winch
First Jiffy Reef line to cleat
Second Jiffy Reef to cleat
Main Topping Lift. to cleat

Total of 8 lines, because there is only one line per reef. It's the way it was set up when we bought her, and I've never seen a need to change. Apart from having to sit on lines if you're on the roof....

As Lydia said though, with a Furler the headsail halyard is never used, except for a sail change. With me, that never happens. You do however have to go atop the coach roof to stack the sail, but it can be raised on the go from the cockpit whilst steering with your foot, or the auto-tiller.

Won't go into running rigging layout as it is covered well above.

Is your mast and boom anodized coated or etch primer and two pack polyurethane paint coated?

At the risk of repeating prior comments while the mast is being re-rigged suggest remove all stainless fittings to check for galvanic corrosion of the aluminium mast underneath. If there is any at all rectify it suitably and re-fasten the fitting with appropriate monel or 316 stainless rivets or 316 stainless metal thread fasteners as relevant to what the original fasteners were, also ensuring that the fitting and the rivets / fasteners are liberally coated with Tef-Gel to provide the corrosion barrier for the next 20 years. If a painted mast assume you will re-paint the mast with 2 pack polyurethane - 2 coats over an etch primer coat or 2.

For painted masts the telltale sign of aluminium corrosion under stainless fittings is blistering of the paint around the perimeter of the stainless fittings. For anodized masts the tell tale signs are not as obvious but this does not necessarily mean it is not there. As per prior post I rectified a Farr727 mast under the spreaders which the corrosion barrier had failed - there was a hole in the mast each side under the ss spreader band about 2 inches diameter - dunno how the mast stayed up the last black noreaster I sailed it in. Rectified by putting external sleeve band of same mast section around, epoxied to the bare alum of the mast and monel riveted, then re-riveted the spreader band with heaps of Duralac. Tefgel has now taken over from Duralac. Of course the spreader angle reduces a bit but no issue.

If the mast needs major work or a full repaint, get a quote for new one.
Seriously.
With Defiance by the time we spent getting all the sheaves replaced and new standing rigging and a re paint is was the within $2k of a brand new mast.
Which we did with new halyard and winches.

When you want a new mast and rigging!!

New mast just stepped

Thanks Lydia and Stray for putting forward an alternative idea. One thing I'm learning is that owning a boat challenges our preconceptions. I'll think carefully about the points you make. One possible factor is that I'm 64 and not as agile as I used to be due to falling off motorcycles and some other health problems. Things will get better as I get fitter but I wont be leaping around the boat like my teenage sons.

Thanks also MichaelR and r13. The layout on the Top Hat sounds similar to the one I was considering but with single line reefing. And thanks r13 for the tips and information on corrosion affecting the mast and boom, this kind of experience is gold.

To answer r13's question, the mast is painted but the paint on both the mast and the boom is missing in some places, blistered in others and the surveyor recommended repainting both in the near future. I will ask the rigger to carefully examine the mast for corrosion, especially at the points you raise. Unfortunately, due to the lock down, we can't be there and do some of the work ourselves but it seems prudent to get it done before the delivery trip and accept the additional cost as the price paid for the joy of sailing. I will also ask about repainting the mast and boom while they are out of the boat, it seems that this would be a good thing to do.

Once again, thanks for the differing views and the detailed information. For someone like myself, who is taking their first tentative steps in boat ownership, this is extremely useful.

Cheers, Peter

Thanks, Lydia! As a meteorologist, I would be concerned sailing towards that cloud formation. Did you get to the gust front? What happened? Was it the "Black Nor' Easter" you referred to in your post?

P.

Troy goes through the thinking in this video. Like him my 38 footer has no lines led back to the cockpit (it is a cat). When dropping a kite or pulling it up, or playing with a reacher I want to have the halyards close to the foredeck. I can set and drop kites on my cat singlehanded, if you have a good autopilot, pulling up the main is no issue either. I have to fuss around tying the reefs and boom bag in anyway so I have to be at the mast when reefing.



I sailed a mates 37 footer last Sunday and all the lines led back to the cockpit and it was a bit of a mess with halyards and sheets everywhere - I would not have it that way myself.

On my Currawong I needed to replace the spreaders due to corrosion and the ring frame unit at the base. The base of the mast was so corroded, we cut 4cm off and made it up with a chock. Its all good, but I agree with Lydia that I should have replaced the mast if i was doing this again.

I would also seriously consider replacing all wiring, any running rigging close to the end of its life, lights and windex. Its a bugger to fix these things in situ.

I am a great fan of lines back the cockpit especially for a Currawong as it is so easy to steer and adjust the lines at the same time. At a minimum I would take the main halyard and 2x reef lines to the cockpit (5 lines, I think) This will make it much easier to manage in a storm.

Check any turnbuckles very very very carefully if re-using them.

Curiously I will be taking my Currawong from Melbourne to Brisbane early next year.

A

Another point of view. We changed ours for all lines to run back to in front of the cockpit, but left the winches on the mast so we can use them if required. I have removed the clutches on the mast, but they are easy to re-install when required. They were for the main, genoa, jib, and spinnaker. The 2 reefing lines, pole & boom topping lifts, kicker and vang already came back to the cockpit.

We have an old style vang, so if it blowing, we drop the boom to just above the cockpit, lock off the main sheet and use another handy piece of rope in a triangle at the rear of the boom, then drop the main from the cockpit. Easy to do single handed and can be tidied up later. If it is not blowing, we do it at the mast.

Sometimes you just have to see what works for you. Time spent on other peoples boats will also give you a good idea for your own boat.

Thanks Peter. In my experience the three biggest "unawarenesses" of yachties are;

1 aluminium galvanic corrosion under stainless fittings if the stainless plate material of the fitting, and/or the stainless fasteners (whether rivets or metal thread bolts) are not properly fully isolated from the aluminium. The link here is titled wear but covers corrosion also - there are many other web links of galvanic corrosion of aluminium masts.

www.sail-world.com/news/228098/Signs-of-aluminium-mast-wear

2 Thread galling of stainless fasteners - see here a good concise description. Call Loctite to get the best product in their range to avoid this - they have anti-galling as well as thread locking compounds in one.

www.assda.asn.au/images/PDFs/faq%20no5%20galling.pdf

3 The availability of stainless fasteners in the high tensile grades - so yield strengths up to 856MPa as in the Bumax 88 range as per here.

www.hobson.com.au/files/technical/btd-chem-amm-nit.pdf

This yield strength is far higher than the typical 240MPa of a normal 316 grade stainless bolt. So if you are replacing a stainless bolt make sure you are replacing like with like as regards strength and corrosion resistance.

Select to expand quote

Kinora said..
Thanks Lydia and Stray for putting forward an alternative idea. One thing I'm learning is that owning a boat challenges our preconceptions. I'll think carefully about the points you make. One possible factor is that I'm 64 and not as agile as I used to be due to falling off motorcycles and some other health problems. Things will get better as I get fitter but I wont be leaping around the boat like my teenage sons.

Thanks also MichaelR and r13. The layout on the Top Hat sounds similar to the one I was considering but with single line reefing. And thanks r13 for the tips and information on corrosion affecting the mast and boom, this kind of experience is gold.

To answer r13's question, the mast is painted but the paint on both the mast and the boom is missing in some places, blistered in others and the surveyor recommended repainting both in the near future. I will ask the rigger to carefully examine the mast for corrosion, especially at the points you raise. Unfortunately, due to the lock down, we can't be there and do some of the work ourselves but it seems prudent to get it done before the delivery trip and accept the additional cost as the price paid for the joy of sailing. I will also ask about repainting the mast and boom while they are out of the boat, it seems that this would be a good thing to do.

Once again, thanks for the differing views and the detailed information. For someone like myself, who is taking their first tentative steps in boat ownership, this is extremely useful.

Cheers, Peter

Being an old bowman from big boats years go there is one rule.
Only move once!
One trip to the bow, one trip to the mast etc.
You don't want to be running back to the cockpit fire times when dropping a sail.

Accept that reefing from the cockpit is good but you only need the halyard and reef lines lead back, but be due to get the lead on the luff pull down right.

Select to expand quote

Kinora said..
Thanks, Lydia! As a meteorologist, I would be concerned sailing towards that cloud formation. Did you get to the gust front? What happened? Was it the "Black Nor' Easter" you referred to in your post?

P.

Complete fizzer actually but looked real bad from there.

I just picked my new old boat up from the rigger yesterday. Had all the standing rigging changed and some running rigging (which I did myself). They did a great job. I did drop in every day to see how they were going.

Personally I would want to be able to check in to the riggers every few days to ask questions, make decisions etc. Riggers are business people, making decisions every day as they come across things. Balancing time, revenue etc. They also miss things or make mistakes. There were lots of times where the rigger showed me stuff, drew diagrams etc. There were a couple of times when I said "shouldnt that be fixed? or is that meant to look like that?". They ran into problems which required me to make a decision.

For all those additional changes like moving the running rigging back to the cockpit I would do this later so you can have a say over it, sail it, refine it. I would sail it, work out how you want it done then do it. You can likely do this with the mast in.

Also, I have seen a few boats now where ship-writes and riggers have drilled holes through the deck without coring it properly or without bedding it properly. Whoever ran the gear back to my cockpit didnt core the deck when they installed all those blocks and now I have some rotten core. Something you wont notice when they do it but will notice it in ten years.

Anyway. Thats my two cents. All the people above are probably way more experienced than I. Im just onto my second boat in a year.

Many thanks to all for their contributions, I have distilled the various suggestions into a single list and will use that as my starting point. I have a engaged a rigger at Newport and tentatively booked for the last week of September with the option of going earlier or later depending on when the restrictions are eased and we can travel to Pittwater.

I will try and post some progress photos, assuming this all goes ahead as planned, in the "What did you do to your sailing boat today" thread.

Cheers, Peter