A couple rigging questions re: stays'l and mule

[Eddie Offermann]

1. I've seen cutter-rigged boats with what appears to be a topping lift for the stays' boom. This line is usually steel rope with a section of cord in small blocks at the bottom. It seems a topping lift would make dropping the sail easier to deal with - tighten up the stays'l sheet then loosen the halyard: On mine, I always have a bit of a mess when I drop the stays'l because the boom wants to drop to the deck and potentially wallow about. Is there a good reason *not* to consider emulating this setup?

2. As Clyde observed on my boat, the mainmast doesn't have a mule head - which suggested that the vessel may have not been equipped for a mule. Having the mizzen sheet horse, however, makes it look to me like we probably *were* equipped with one, rigged differently. Based on what's currently aloft, how else might the original mule have been flown?

[Clyde A. Phillips]

Eddie,

Let’s start with #2:  I have a drawing on rigging the mule.  It, of course, uses the “mule head” that raises the spring stay (between the two mast heads) above its regular position.  Since the mule flies between the spring stay and the main back stay all fittings must be in that area.  Find my page (not My Page (that’s your page) but Clyde’s Page) and click on Rigging Drawings and the Mule drawing is in the lower right corner of page one of the drawings.  Using that as a guide you should be able to compare it to your rig and then make sure that from top to bottom (top being the spring stay) everything is in its place.  I just looked at that updated version of that drawing and I note it has a block hanging from the main head under the back stay.  That block is marked as the main topping lift.  The main topping lift was shackled to the end of the main boom on an eye bolt.  Look in my rigging drawings for rigging the booms (two drawings on the top line of pictures on the first page) and you’ll see that the business end of the mizzen topping lift is a small diameter rope fastened to one side of the boom end, carried aloft a little ways to the bullet block on the end of the wire topping lift fastened to the mizzen head, back down to the other side of the boom to a cheek block and then forward on the boom to a small cleat several feet toward the mast.  (Got that?  Study the drawings-or ask questions).  The mule halyard is above the main back stay.  So, top to bottom, we have the spring stay, the mule halyard, the main back stay and the main topping lift.  You also need a mule sheet block on the forward side of the mizzen head, and a tang on the forward face of the mizzen mast set at a place where the luff of the mule parallels the main back stay, along with roller furling gear if you want/have it.

Now for #1:  This is about the fore stays’l topping lift.  Again, as I rigged them new and I’m sure this was from the first Newporter to the end, there was a 3/8” rope lift, 6’ long, that had a snap hook on its lower end to hook into an eyebolt at the end of the stays’l boom.  It is fastened to the forward face of the main mast at a height that will hold the aft end of the stays’l boom at a proper height off the deck.  Your description of its use is good.  What I don’t remember about this is what is done with the lower end while sailing.  Some sort of hardware could be placed so that the snap hook can be fastened to the mast to keep it under control while under sail.  I think I’d use a short piece of shock cord to hook to so that the lift will be under tension and under control.  What’s the “proper” height of the end of the boom off the deck?  I always liked the three booms more or less in a line from the stays’l boom through the main boom to the mizzen boom.  This is the skipper’s choice.  Hope this helps!    Peace, Clyde  

[Eddie Offermann]

Thanks a lot, Clyde!

We've been working on other projects and after my vacation next week (away from the boat??? insanity!) I'll probably turn my attention back to the mule and other rigging projects.

[Clyde A. Phillips]

Eddie,

Some added notes on the stays'l lift.  What you described is similar to our mizzen topping lift (wire from aloft and some small stuff rove through small blocks).  I'm assuming the cutters you've seen are larger than a Newporter or at least they had larger stays'ls than ours.  That makes the wire and the tackle (the old timers pronounced that "tay.ckle") necessary to hold the larger sail and heavier boom.  We used a double braided 3/8" line from Sampson.  That is an interesting line to splice, but with a little rope sense, the proper tools, and a good set of directions it's not hard to learn.  I'm not sure that Sampson is still in business; I do know that there are other similar lines, at least some of them are not double braided (meaning a core of the same type of fiber braided like the cover).  On our rig there was no tackle on the lift.  You just hooked the snap hook on the end of the lift on the eye bolt at the end of the boom and then dropped the sail.  You are right that tightening the sheet and belaying it against the lift is the way to keep things in control and the boom in a good position to furl the sail.

And some added nonsense about the mule head.  I think I mentioned elsewhere concerning the "mule head" that I designed it following the criteria that Ack set before me. (I don't expect anyone to remember that bit of knowledge.)  This does not mean that this design was the first to be used on the Newporters.  It may just mean that another rigger may have designed one with the same criteria that Ack gave me and he moved east without a pattern for it.  It was fun figuring it out, but I'm sure what made it usable was the turnbuckle on the springstay that corrected my mistaken position for its main head connection.  But, boy, was I proud of that fitting when we put it on the first boat I rigged for a mule.  If that boat was the first to use such a fitting and previous boats had mules that shows that the mule head is not really needed.  But you must keep all the rigging in proper order vertically or you may just have a tangled mess on your hands.  If you want to fabricate your own mule head go ahead and work on it.  I did it and you should be able to.  I've looked at your work and you seem to have the abilities needed to finish the job.  My drawing gives a good side view.  That was from memory, but it was drawn while I was working with them.

Now, stop reading all that foolish stuff and get to work!

Peace,  Clyde