Drilling holes in the mast
When Madrone was originally commissioned, she was set up with a single spinnaker halyard. Our sailing trips have taught us to have a spare for as many things as possible, so we decided to add a second spinnaker halyard on the other side of the mast from the original.
With a halyard on either side of the mast, we’ll now be able to hoist the spinnaker on either tack and also use the other halyard as a topping lift for our whisker pole.
New slot in the mast
Madrone’s halyards run up through the mast. They each enter the mast in a separate location near the boom and exit the mast through separate slots near the top.
Fortunately, there was an existing exit slot for the new halyard near the top of the mast. But, there was no existing entry slot near the boom.
Adding the smooth exit plate
To run the halyard, we needed to make the new entry slot. From the bosun’s chair, we drilled two alarmingly-large holes in the mast and then cut out the aluminum mast material to connect them and form the slot.
Adding the spinnaker block
We added a new spinnaker block at the top of the mast, dropped the new halyard into the exit slot at the top of the mast, fished out the new halyard from inside the mast, screwed in a smooth exit plate over the new hole in the mast, and then tied a snap shackle to the halyard with a halyard knot.Voila! We have a new port side spinnaker halyard!
Shackle attached with halyard knot
