Halyards Ex. to Int.

[HGSail]

Henry,
When I pulled my mast a few years ago I wanted to do the same as you are talking about. But unfortunately I found that you would have to reconstruct the masthead ie: cut it off and rebuild it. I decided that it would be to much and left them external.

Pat
E-29
#224
Holy Guacamole

 

[Seth]

Internal halyard mod

Although it is true that to make the halyards completely internal you would have to rebuilt the masthead, 90% of the benefits can be had by making cut outs (slots) for the halyards to enter JUST BELOW the masthead (leaving them external for the last 10" or so), and then cutting exit slots near the base of the mast. This reduces most of the windage, halyard slap, and sun exposure problems associated with external halyards, and is fairly easy to do. It IS possible to do this with the rig up, but MUCH easier with it down.

You will want the exit slot for the main halyard fairly low, about waist height, and if doing any racing, put the exits for the Gneoa and spin halyards about 6 feet off the deck, so you can "jump" the halyards quickly at mark roundings. If not racing, the height is much less critical.

I would definitely do this if I had a 25,27, 29, etc. to clean up the appearance and achieve the benefits described above.

Good sailing,
S