Halyard and block mods

[oceanroadus]

Greetings all, I took the time to change the cheek block on the mast for the throat halyard to a larger Schafer and went 2:1 as well (50' of 5/16" halyard) and boy it is nice. Much smoother to raise the sail. Going to replace the peak halyard next with 5/16" and replace my topping lift too. Mainly just to have new lines since the old ones are pretty beat and feel like sandpaper. I have to thank Bruce in RI (PC Sailor) reading his informative posts were very helpful. I have a new to me Sunday Cat and really like using a topping lift, had lazy jacks on my previous Suncat and honestly they were always fouling around something.

[bruce]

Glad it worked out for you. I don't know how it is on the Sun Cats, but the stock halyard cheek blocks on the PC are undersized and the line doesn't run as smoothly as it should. I'd read this, so I had Com-Pac put larger blocks on.

I had also heard that PC sailors often went 2:1 on the throat halyard (1:1 is stock on PCs and SCs), matching the peak halyard. Haul the lines together until the throat sets, and continue on the peak halyard until it sets. Keeps the gaff horizontal to the boom as desired. Much easier than having to pull twice as much peak halyard to keep the gaff horizontal. Most catboats are set up this way. I had Gerry do that too. He resisted at first, he thought I expected to haul on the halyards together and have the throat and peak set at the same time. Eventually he agreed to try it.

[Roland of Macatawa]

I have also changed the throat halyard to 2:1 on my SunDayCat.
Am pleased with the change.

But I implemented the 2:1 a little differently.
I wanted a bolt-on solution which could be reversed by a subsequent owner, if chosen to.

The throat halyard cheek block was abandoned, but not removed, .
A becket block was hung from the mast using a custom bracket of my design.
It attaches to the mast at the lower of the two upper peak halyard boom bail mounts, and then extends downward.
The fabricators at the company from which I retired made it for me.

I now tension the luff upwards opposing a fixed downhaul.
This locates the boom just high enough to clear the boom gallows.
A disadvantage of this is that to re-tension the luff the peak halyard must be relaxed.
Because I rarely do so, the disadvantage is minor.

[oceanroadus]

For anyone wanting the line measurements for the peak halyard replacement in the stock arrangement I bought 55' of 5/16 and for the topping lift 25-27' of 1/4 or 3/16 will work. I would go 27' if you plan to run from the topmost bale down to a block a few feet above the boom and then use another line to cleats or strap on one side and cleat on the other side. I prefer the balance of the two lines to the boom.