Self-adjusting topping lift

[Don Reaves]

For a while now, I've been wanting to replace the 3-strand nylon topping lift on my SO35. It was always interfering with the telltales on the leech of my mainsail. To adjust it required a trip to the mast, which most times seemed like too much effort and other times seemed unnecessarily dangerous. I don't have a rigid vang, by the way.

I decided to use a light-weight high tech line (amsteel). Of course, because the line is very strong, it's diameter is so small that you need a tail that's more conventional in size. I decided to use a 5/16th inch (8 mm) polyester double braid. Splicing the two together wasn't hard. So I ended up with a two part topping lift, about 50 feet of 7/64 inch amsteel and 40 feet of 5/16 double braid.

I used the old topping lift to pull the new one into position. No problem. However, I discovered something that I hadn't anticipated when I started the project. The amsteel part of the topping lift is very much lighter than the polyester part. As a result, the working end wants to head to the top of the mast. In fact, it takes a pound or two of pull to keep it down.

Needless to say, it got away from me when I first tried to attach the shackle to the end of the boom. A trip up the mast solved that. The effort convinced me that I needed to be more careful. In fact I was worried that maybe I didn't want a piece of equipment that was inclined to make itself useless.

But the fact that the part in the mast is heavier makes my new topping lift self-adjusting. When the boom rises, it automatically takes up the slack better than I ever could by adjusting it manually. It's always away from the sail, so it doesn't interfere with the telltales. And being thinner, it has less wind resistance, another plus.

I hope I don't regret making the change. I've kept the old topping lift if I ever change my mind.

[so40gtb]

Fascinating, Don, and a nifty tip if its behavior continues!

[hoppy]

My boat originally had the topping lift for the spinnaker pole leading back to the cockpit and the topping lift for the boom tied off at the mast. I quickly realised that having the pole TL leading to the cockpit was useless, especially when handling the pole solo, so I moved it to the mast and moved the boom TL to the cockpit.

I'm now fedup with the topping lift interfering with the tell tails, so I will add a snap shackle so I can just detach it and connect it to the pushpit when sailing. In theory I could also switch to a thicker rope and use it as a 2nd halyard, not that I need it

[Don Reaves]

Unfortunately, the deck organizer and rope clutches are fully occupied by the essential controls on my boat, so extending the topping lift to the cockpit would have involved expense and effort that I wasn't willing to spend.