Hi everyone,

I have a 24ft Yamaha and a little 2 person dinghy (fibreglass) that I have been towing. I have seen a lot of people lift tenders onto the foredeck using the spinnaker halyard. I would have enough space on the foredeck but with my current setup it would be easier to use the Main Sail halyard. Is it ok to use the main halyard? It's obviously not facing the foredeck but with my current setup I have easier access to the main halyard. How much weight can I put on the halyard and also, moving the dinghy around the foredeck the halyard goes around the mast.

Still new to this, so it might be a silly question.

Yamaha24ft

If you use the spinnaker halyard it will depend on the shackle pin strength. The main halyard it would depend on the shaft for the sheave. Both cases would most likely be 6mm. The cordage will be heaps strong enough, it's sized more for convenience than strength. 6mm shackle pin is roughly 450 kilos.

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Ramona said..
If you use the spinnaker halyard it will depend on the shackle pin strength. The main halyard it would depend on the shaft for the sheave. Both cases would most likely be 6mm. The cordage will be heaps strong enough, it's sized more for convenience than strength. 6mm shackle pin is roughly 450 kilos.

So are you saying spinnaker sheaves normally run on pins thicker than mainsail sheaves or just that swivel shackles normally found on spinnaker halliards are the weak link (or both)?

Still new to this, so it might be a silly question.

Not a silly question at all.
However, I can't see why you can't use your spin halyard.
Here is a video that will get you started. You probably don't have a spare block and tackle as in the vid, but you should be able to remove your mainsheet system and try it.
Either way, the only way that you will work out the best way to raise you dinghy is to experiment.
Everyone one has a different system and as long as it works on your boat it is good.

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Ramona said..
If you use the spinnaker halyard it will depend on the shackle pin strength. The main halyard it would depend on the shaft for the sheave. Both cases would most likely be 6mm. The cordage will be heaps strong enough, it's sized more for convenience than strength. 6mm shackle pin is roughly 450 kilos.

Thanks Ramona :)

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garymalmgren said..
Still new to this, so it might be a silly question.

Not a silly question at all.
However, I can't see why you can't use your spin halyard.
Here is a video that will get you started. You probably don't have a spare block and tackle as in the vid, but you should be able to remove your mainsheet system and try it.
Either way, the only way that you will work out the best way to raise you dinghy is to experiment.
Everyone one has a different system and as long as it works on your boat it is good.

Thank you for the video. I will give it a go and report back :)

I guess a Yammy 26 has halyards back to the cockpit? If you have a winch on the mast it's very easy to do single handed and less stuff around than the block and tackle.

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julesmoto said..

Ramona said..
If you use the spinnaker halyard it will depend on the shackle pin strength. The main halyard it would depend on the shaft for the sheave. Both cases would most likely be 6mm. The cordage will be heaps strong enough, it's sized more for convenience than strength. 6mm shackle pin is roughly 450 kilos.

So are you saying spinnaker sheaves normally run on pins thicker than mainsail sheaves or just that swivel shackles normally found on spinnaker halliards are the weak link (or both)?

Small yachts and trailer sailors the pin/shaft sizes would be similar. Larger yachts the shaft for the spinnaker sheave would be much larger because the sheave is much larger. Mine are anyway!

Thanks. Never been inside or up the NS mast but as it's much easier to check the mast fittings on the trailer sailer I have just replaced the mainsail halyard sheave on the Clubman which was a bugger to source (got one from UK) as it was a 35 mm sheave running on an eight millimeter pin.

Surprisingly the triple sheave blocks that handle the 380 kg keel raising are only 6mm pins and have a bad reputation for failing in that application despite being rated higher. Needless to say I have upgraded mine.

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julesmoto said..
Thanks. Never been inside or up the NS mast but as it's much easier to check the mast fittings on the trailer sailer I have just replaced the mainsail halyard sheave on the Clubman which was a bugger to source (got one from UK) as it was a 35 mm sheave running on an eight millimeter pin.

Surprisingly the triple sheave blocks that handle the 380 kg keel raising are only 6mm pins and have a bad reputation for failing in that application despite being rated higher. Needless to say I have upgraded mine.

I have not been up to the top of mine yet either. I just took a few photos from my tender. The two spinnaker blocks are hanging off U bolts and the pins look to be 3/8". On IOR style boats I should imagine the spinnaker would have heavier loads than the mainsail halyard.
Check out the VHF aerial. It's about 100mm long and chewed up. I can hear Sydney radio and often hear two-way conversations 50 miles away. AIS out to 30 miles though I only have 5 miles on the screen. I have a new aerial in the shed to go up but I doubt it would be better than what I have!

For what its worth Ive been using spinnaker halyard for years to lift 2.5m RIB onto fore deck. Main halyard faces aft so wrong direction so impractical for us. The force on the halyard is way more in a blow than the weight of my RIB so I never even worried about it.