New ComPac 16 - Top lift question

[VP21]

Proud owner of an'82 Compac 16. Pulled it home from St Charles, Missouri last Saturday.

I raised the mast only to find out there was no top lift for the mainsail boom. Lowered the mast and could not find any place to attach a top lift line so I attached to the side stay. Seem to work OK but did the previous owner not use a top lift?

Enroute lost the connector to the lower port side stay but have it jury rigged for now.

No stern ladder on this one. What's the best to buy?

Ron

Branson area.

[Geargrip]

Hi Ron,

My '99 does not have a ladder either.  I think that the best place to start is to reach out to the builder, Hutchens.  They have been extremely helpful to me, and I haven't even spent a lot of money with them.

I've seen some that use the ladders that hook over the gunwale.  But, I'm not a fan of loosing that much cabin space to storing the ladder when sailing.

[Salty19]

Check out the Garelick transom mounted aluminum  ladders (2 or 3 step).  They fit well.

As for the topping lift, at the masthead there is a small hole drilled for the topping lift to slide through.  A knot from behind would hold the topping lift in place.
1/8" line will fit, 3/16" might fit but will be tight.  Check it out for yourself when you lower the mast.   I like Amsteel line for this application (very strong and should last a long time).   Then at the boom, you could tie in a small carbiner or similar to easily attach the line.

Also, do not jury rig anything with respect to the rigging.  Get a marine grade pin with the same outer diameter as the chainplate hole and of course the right cotter rings or pins.   A normal bolt or one  from Home Depot will probably bend or break in short order.  While you're at it, since the boat is new to you, take a good look around at all the fasteners to make sure they are the proper size and type.   Yes, these little pins do cost $5 but there is a good reason for that (some is just markup, but most of the added price is because the material is more capable to holding force).  Same goes for shackles...Home depot SS 5/16 shackles can hold 500lbs but the same size Witchard brand shackle can hold close to 5,000 lbs.    Yep, if anything looks cheesy, it probably is.

[GlennB724]

a good resource for all those various marine hardware items, (which are sometimes hard to find in the small sizes a CP16 needs), is Annapolis Performance Sailing.  www.apsltd.com  You can order online, or get a catalogue, and you'll have the parts in a couple of days.  Very fast shipping.  They have a good selection of Ronstan parts, (what most of the original hardware is on my CP16), plus all the other big brands as well. 

Much of their stock is geared toward the Go-Fast sailors, (i.e. the "performance sailing" part of the name), but that doesn't stop us speed-challenged boat owners from buying the stuff we need there.  lol

[kickingbug1]

    i put two rings on my topping lift. one at the end and one about 6 inches up from that. when sailing i use the bottom ring attached to a carbiner on the end of the boom. this is a "slack" line and does not affect the shape of the main sail. the second ring further up the line is used when motoring with the mainsail flaked. it holds the boom slightly higher to increase headroom. i used to tie my topping lift to a side stay but often times forgot to re-attach it when i was ready to drop the main, with predictable results.

[DaveE]

 The topping lift is one of the places that you can follow the KISS principle completely.  Just  attach the line as high on the mast as you can then loop the descending end thru a D ring or pulley on the boom.  Tie a sliding stop knot about a foot up the descending line.  You can then slide the knot up or down and your boom is any height you want it to be.

[Salty19]

+1 on what kicknbug said.  Works well!

[rwdsr]

On my 16, I run my topping lift through a block at the top of the mast, the cleat it off at the bottom of the mast, that way I can raise and lower the boom whenever I want to.  I had the extra pulley up there and never thought of using a fixed line.  I noticed when picking up the Catalina last week that it has a backstay, and someone rigged a clip from that to serve as a topping lift.

[brackish]

On my 16, I run my topping lift through a block at the top of the mast, the cleat it off at the bottom of the mast, that way I can raise and lower the boom whenever I want to.  I had the extra pulley up there and never thought of using a fixed line.  I noticed when picking up the Catalina last week that it has a backstay, and someone rigged a clip from that to serve as a topping lift.

That pigtail is what a 23 has, however, you may want to rig a topping lift on your Catalina.  It is often not practical or safe to hook up the boom to the pigtail prior to dropping the main, and if you don't the boom goes boom.

[rwdsr]

LOL, I like the way you explain things.  Noted, and when you explained it, I saw it plain as day.  I'll rig the topping lift.  I do like the idea of hooking up to the pigtail at night to rig the boom tent though, on the 16 I had to cinch the mainsheet down pretty tight to keep it from swinging.