Good morning all,
I'm a new sailboat owner and am measuring for new sails and a dodger.
My C36 is a 1983 Mk I. According to the Owners Manual, the topping lift length should be 41 feet. When I run the tape measure up on the halyard and measure to the topping lift block, I measure 41 ft 5 1/2 in. This would see to be too long. Is this the proper way to measure?
One thing I do see is that the boom is not at 90 degrees from the mast. The end of the boom actually sits around two inches below where it would be at 90 degrees. I can find nothing directly addresses this. The closest I've seen are diagrams that appear to show the boom to be at 90 dgrees off the mast.
Thanks for any guidance you can provide.
FredJ
You might have the tall rig, and if so, the measurement would not accord with a measurement for a standard rig.
See https://www.catalina36.org/comment/46800#comment-46800
for one way to figure out the difference (by measuring the boom).
PS: I gather you are trying to set up a "fixed" topping lift. If so, you might want to consider, as an alternative, setting up an adjustable topping lift by using the spare halyard sheave: You run a line from the end of the boom to the spare aft-facing halyard sheave, down inside the mast and out the at the base, and then back to the cockpit. This enables adjustments without having to grab at the end of the boom (nice when it gets breezy!), and also gives you a "spare" main halyard in a pinch. On our boat, we have a Spectra line with an eye spliced in each end. One attaches to the boom end with a shackle, the other to the "spare" halyard with a shackle as well.
Matthew Chachère
s/v ¡Que Chévere!
(Formerly 1985 C36 MKI #466 tall rig fin keel M25)
2006 Catalina Morgan 440 #30.
Homeported in eastern Long Island, NY