Halyard locks and reefing hooks

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John Perry
AYRS Chairman
Posts: 104
Joined: Tue Nov 08, 2016 6:39 pm

Halyard locks and reefing hooks

Post by John Perry »

AlexQ23 posted the following in the section 'Technical papers for review and comment' - I thought it best to put this into a new thread.

'The purpose of the winch is triple: As you mentioned, it helps to hoist the keel, but also to raise the mast and finally it could help to raise the sails. But it never serve to handle the sails. As I mentioned earlier I have design and install a hook that locked the halyard when sails up. An interresting feature with this hook is that it can work also with the reefing lines. I will be please to show how this hook is working but I will have to figure how to insert picture now (Tynipic is out of business).'

I for one would be interested to hear more about this so if you can post a picture here that would be good - I found it easy to add pictures and other attachments with the full editor on this website.

We have 'reefing hooks' on a trimaran, our ones are close copies of those shown in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAw_DmZdosQ
I have to say that allthough we don't have much experience with using them we haven't yet been able to get our reefing hooks to work reliably so I would be interested to see what you have done. For the reefing lines on our trimaran I am now thinking of fitting a Ronstan constrictor clutch to the boom for each reefing line. This does mean more strings in that you need a release line for each constrictor - also a disadvantage with the hook arrangement of course.

AlexQ23
Established member
Posts: 49
Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2017 8:21 pm

Re: Halyard locks and reefing hooks

Post by AlexQ23 »

Hi john!
I took some pictures but how can I post it to this topic?
But axially my system is a bit different. There are some attachment going thru the mast at top and at each reefing line length. And then you have a hook that hols on those attachment both side of the mast groove. On each hook you find a small spur that will prevent the hook to catch the attachment when you raising up like the one you find on some ladders. Same principle on both side of the groove. For sure it will be better with a picture... but i'm sure that you understand the principle.

John Perry
AYRS Chairman
Posts: 104
Joined: Tue Nov 08, 2016 6:39 pm

Re: Halyard locks and reefing hooks

Post by John Perry »

Would be nice to see your pictures Alex, your arrangement is still not all that clear to me!

When you post to this forum are you writing in an editing box that has a row of square buttons above it, the left most button being 'B' for 'Bold', this followed by 'I' for 'Italics' etc. ? If so, the following is one way to include a picture.

Below the editing window you see two 'tabs', one labelled Options, the other labelled Attachments. Click on Attachments. You can then either drag a picture file (or some other file for that matter) straight from your 'desktop' to the editing window, or you can click on the 'add files' button then select the picture from anywhere on your computer. Once you have done that you can optionally click a 'Place inline' button so that your picture appears with the text of your message rather than needing to be downloaded.

I am no expert on this, so just to check that it works I am going to drag and drop a more or less random picture from my computer into this message. The picture if it appears will be a Cl vs. Cd graph for a Bermudian rig - but don't blame me if the Cl and Cd numbers dont agree with your wind tunnel - its just an example to check file uploading!!
Cl vs Cd.png
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AlexQ23
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Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2017 8:21 pm

Re: Halyard locks and reefing hooks

Post by AlexQ23 »

Hi John! Thanks for the explanation. here are the pictures!
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John Perry
AYRS Chairman
Posts: 104
Joined: Tue Nov 08, 2016 6:39 pm

Re: Halyard locks and reefing hooks

Post by John Perry »

Hi Alex, thank you for the pictures which are nice and clear but I have to admit that I still don't understand how it works! I can see that the hooks cut in the sheet metal part will lock onto the cross bar through the mast and perhaps the 'small spur' helps to guide it onto the cross bar? But how do you then get it to release when you want to lower the sail? - and how do you tell it which cross bar to hook onto if there is one for each reef? I guess I must be missing something.

Incidentally here is how one type of halyard lock works:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrMmmc6UQ_I

If I understand the video correctly it depends on the halyard not being pulled right up to the end stop when the sail is hoisted, then a second pull right to the end stop allows the spring loaded pawl to flip down allowing the sail to be dropped. If the halyard is pulled right up when hoisting the sail it looks to me as though the sail would then fall back down when the halyard is slackened which is not ideal - have I got that right I wonder?

AlexQ23
Established member
Posts: 49
Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2017 8:21 pm

Re: Halyard locks and reefing hooks

Post by AlexQ23 »

Hi John,
I know that is not easy to understand how this hook is operating. But be patient, in a few weeks or so I will make a small video for you. But the principle is often the same. You raise the halyard till the hooks clamp in a pin that go true both sides of the mast in front of the mast groove (actually in front of the mast bulkhead). So all the tension of the sail is spread to the mast via the dedicated pin. And when you want to lower the sail, you pull on the halyard again, disconnecting the hook and by doing so, the two side spur raise up and allow the hook to escape or free the pin. The main advantage of this system is that all stresses are taken directly by the mast and only half the compression load is apply on it. Also, there is no other rope involve than the halyard itself. So be patient and I will be back with a small video.

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fishwics
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Re: Halyard locks and reefing hooks

Post by fishwics »

That's a nice system - and presumably it works with reefed sails by adding another (or more) fixed pin at the appropriate position on the mast.

Did you devise it, or is it a commercial system?

Cheers
Simon

AlexQ23
Established member
Posts: 49
Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2017 8:21 pm

Re: Halyard locks and reefing hooks

Post by AlexQ23 »

Hi Simon!
This is my own design, Feel free to copy it if you want! But if you do so, it will be easier to keep the pins perpendicular to mast longitudinal axis. I will be soon ready to send you a small video.

Gerdos
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Joined: Mon May 04, 2020 2:53 pm

Re: Halyard locks and reefing hooks

Post by Gerdos »

Nice system, maybe I will make the same for my boat that is in France when I get to my real estate in Cannes. Due to the virus situation I am not sure when it is going to happen.

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