A not-so-nutty way to send a messenger
Issue 80 : Sept/Oct 2011
You say you lost an internal halyard? You’re scratching your head over how to reeve a messenger with which to pull through a replacement? Here’s an easy way to do it.
Tie a stopper knot 7 or 8 inches from the end of a messenger line. Gather enough steel nuts to equal about 4 inches when strung together. These nuts should be somewhat smaller than the diameter of the halyard. Don’t use stainless-steel nuts.
Thread the nuts onto the end of the messenger line with the stopper knot, then tie another knot to prevent them from falling off. (Alternatively, thread the nuts onto a short length of flexible wire and tape that to the messenger line.)
If you push on one end of the string of nuts, it will be stiff enough that you can push the nuts over the top of a sheave. Once you let go, the string of nuts will be flexible enough to allow the weighted line to drop on the other side of the sheave. The nuts will help the messenger line drop down the mast to the halyard exit.
If, before sending it down the mast, you first hold the messenger line at the sheave box at the top of the mast and drop it outside the mast to the halyard exit, you can tie it off to mark the length from the mast top to the halyard exit. After you push the nuts over the sheave, the messenger will then pass down the mast until the nuts at the end stop close to the halyard exit.
Here’s why it’s good to use steel nuts: attach a thin magnet to a thin rod and use it to fish the messenger out through the halyard exit.
Carl Hunt is a semi-retired economist. He has sailed for 30 years and cruised his own boats from British Columbia to Mexico. He has chartered and cruised other people’s boats throughout the eastern U.S. and the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and other parts of the world. He lives in Colorado.
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