[C320-list] main halyard replacement and double main sheet control

[Gene Helfman]

 Thanks to all for your help on both these issues.

1. Replacing main halyard: What I finally did, and what worked just fine,
was I cut the ends of both old and new halyards very sharply, presenting
nice flat surfaces.  I then used a small butane lighter (kept around in
case the autostarter on the stove doesn't work) and heated up both ends and
stuck them together while still hot/melted.  This kept the two pieces lined
up nicely while I stitched them together, maybe a half dozen tight loops.
 Then for insurance, I whipped across the joint because tape doesn't stick
well or evenly to the two different rope types, and the last thing I want
inside my mast is a piece of tape.  I then began at the base of the mast
and out the top.  No problems.

2. Re: main sheet.  Most everyone seems to use only one side of the main
sheet system, leaving the other alone.  Surely the architects and engineers
that designed the double main sheet system had a reason.  If not, why have
two?  What am I missing here?

Now to think about replacing the reefing line and the puzzling "floating
internal block".

gene
Satori, #398
-- 
Gene Helfman, Professor Emeritus
Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia
PERMANENT address:
    498 Shoreland Dr., Lopez Is., WA 98261
    (360) 468-2136
    genehelfman at gmail.com

"Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day,
Teach a man to fish and he'll deplete the
      oceans."

The Book of Bob, Ironies 24:7