Replacing spinnaker halyard on SO 37

[howard1959]

Hi all, I am replacing my halyard due to wear. I pulled a 3mm mousing line through  when I removed it. I attached the new halyard to the mousing line and it "jams" about the level of the top spreader inside the mast. The mousing line goes through the centre of the halyard and is whipped with fishing line so as not to make it too thick. Whatever I do I cannot get it down (or up if I do it in reverse)
Any thoughts would be most grateful as I'm losing the will to live with it
Manythanks
Howard
 

[Don Reaves]

I have had problems at the sheaves at the top of the mast before, where the binding between the messenger and halyard jammed in both directions. Eventually, I just gritted my teeth and pulled, knowing that I had secured the two together very well, and that the messenger line was strong enough. Once though, it broke, and I had to climb the mast to drop the halyard alone, using a few feet of bicycle chain as a weight.

But in your case, the jam is not at the obvious place for a problem, so the question is what is it jamming on? It seems to me that there are several choices: the hardware attaching the spreaders, some wiring (e.g. the steaming/masthead light), or finally a crossover between the other halyards in the mast.

Have you tried loosening the other halyards to see if there is some interaction between them? This would be very easy to do, and might solve your problem. However, it might also mean that they cross over each other in the mast, and would cause wear and friction. In other words, you might be better off sorting out that problem, which would almost certainly involve removing at least one halyard entirely and putting it back in from scratch.

When attaching the messenger and halyard, after having made a strong attachment, I always wrap it over with a single layer of electrical tape, starting from the halyard side. The idea is to produce a smooth transition between the two lines so there's less chance of catching on something.

[johannes]

I installed a new spinnaker halyard on our SO 37 last year (the previous owner did not have one). However I had the mast down and horizontal, which both made it easier and more tricky. Easier in the sense that all parts of the mast were easily accessible. Trickier since it is not easy to get a messenger line through horizontally.

I ended up using a fishing line, a steel nut and a strong neodymium magnet. Tied the nut to the fishing line and used the magnet to pull it all the way through. I had to be very careful not to cross the other halyards inside the mast in the wrong way. But that can hardly be your problem, since your mousing line runs the same way as your old halyard. 

I can't really think of what could cause the halyard to jam completely in both directions inside the mast. The spreaders are attached by a boomerang-shaped piece of extruded aluminium, with an oval cross section, that goes through the mast. It seems to me that there is nothing that the halyard/mousing line could snag on there. But of course anything is possible. 

The wiring inside the mast goes through 20 mm-ish PVC plastic pipes which are attached to the inside wall of the mast. Unless someone has added extra wiring at some point that goes outside the pipes.