Topping Lift

I just got done adding a topping lift to my Victoria. To the uninitiated it’s a wire or line that runs from the top of the mast to the outer end of the boom and holds it up off the deck when the sails are lowered.

I popped the rivets out of my masthead by tapping on the center of the rivet with a punch pushing the center through and out the other side. Then I used a drill to help loosen up the sleeve that was left in the hole.

Once I had the masthead off I attached a tang that I had purchased from Dwyer Mast and my light and wind indicator bar. The reason I took the masthead off was so I could use a drill press to drill holes to screw the tang into. I drilled and taped holes for 3 SS machine screws and mounted the tang and light bar. You can see the tang hanging at an angle on the right side of the masthead.

Before I replaced the cap I took some advice from "Tom on the Tangent" that I had completely ignored last year. I slathered silicone all over the wiring inside the mast and let it lay for a day. Last year when I wired the mast I skipped that step and had to listen to the clanging of the wire inside the mast all summer.

To replace the cap I used aluminum pop rivets of the appropriate size.

Because I roller reef, I had to add a second tang to the outhaul cap on the boom. Attaching a topping lift directly to the outhaul cap would have caused a tangled mess if I had to spin the boom to reef the main. Attaching it to a tang allows the boom to spin freely. To do the job I had to get to the locking nut on the inside of the cap by removing the cap. I popped out the rivets added the second tang and riveted the cap back in place.

I attached a small block to the tang at the masthead and added a fairlead to the mast I used 2 #6 SS screws to attach the fairlead.

I used a halyard cleat at the bottom of the mast and quarter inch line.

I used a halyard shackle to attach the topping lift to the tang at the stern end of the boom