I have the single line system and have been having trouble hoisting the spinnaker because the douse end of the line is getting knotted up going into the tramp grommet as I pull the hoist end. The lines were new with the boat, but I've sailed about 25 times this year and though they would have loosened up a bit, but this is not the case.

Any suggestions?

Recruit another person.
Remove the entire halyard.
Stretch out line completely roughly 75+ feet.
Hold one end tell your friend to hold the other.
Tug on it, give it a pretty good tug.
You will feel the twist in the line in your hands.
Work the line, untwist it little by little.

OOOORRRRR go the extreme route.
Remove the entire core where the line runs through the blocks. Leave the core and remove the jacket where the line runs through the spinnaker. The twist in the line will be minimized to nill.

I did the second option and that is the shiznet!

Some lines kink easier than others. Sometimes after repeated use as the jacket gets more twisted relative to the core. I've had very good luck with Marlin - Paraloc. Dyneema core with a very soft cover. Kink free in my experience.

Good Luck,

As you are stringing the halyard, wipe the torque out of it at every stage. After leading the halyard through a block grip the line and drag your hand along it towards the free end. Run it through the next block and then drag it through your hand again, wiping the twists out the free end.

Untwisting the line works a treat... but inevitably you will still get a twist at some point.

one thing that works real well is to take the blocks in the tramp out of the system and swap them with stainless rings. But if I understand correctly the halyard is catching on the grommet in the tramp... take the grommet out and just pass it though a reinforced hole. you will need a saddle and ring to take the load of retrieving, otherwise you'll rip your tramp in half in no time.

Few Pics to describe it (the tramp block you see have been replaced with SS rings)
Actually.... how do you put images up here???

It sounds like the halyard is just a little bit too long.
To keep in under tension you could take a piece of bungee and attach it to the righthand corner of the tramp and attach an SS or plastic eye on the other end and make the halyard run thru there.
On the tramp it will change the layout to more of a rectangle.



When you make a post or a reply there is a "File Manager" button under "Post Options".
You can use it to browse to a file on your local harddisk and clink on Add when you are done, repeat to add multiple files.
Images sizes are limited to 100KB.

You can download the XP-ImageResizer to resize images:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/whistler/Install/2/WXP/EN-US/ImageResizerPowertoySetup.exe

I also suggest to pull the line to the back of the boat with an eye and bungee.
also Dyeema (just core) as a line works better then any other line. Its also a lot better for your spinnaker. Just expensive to buy....

Really? In my experience pure dyneema is impossible to grip with bare hands, hard to grip with gloves and doesn't hold in cleats.

". . .Remove the entire core where the line runs through the blocks. Leave the core and remove the jacket where the line runs through the spinnaker. The twist in the line will be minimized to nill."

I can't even tie my shoe laces! Do you know of anyone who provides this as a service?

Thanks guys!!

You like to tinker, so I know you can do this Pete. If you know how to taper a main sheet, you can do it.

Mike

This is the system I have - a bungie tied to the striker pole runs under the tramp back to block on the rear beam then to a plastic ring topside which the halyard runs through then into the grommet. The line is so twisted that it is getting hung up on the ring and when I pull it to the grommet, the bungie stretches and I have the ring and the twisted line gumming up the works.

Getting the line untwisted seems like the best short term solution.

The first option that Robi talked about is the best short term solution, but it's going to do it again. One other thing that can help is when you store the spin pole, is to store the line in a figure eight insted of the typical "wrapping" it around your arm. I was doing this, but I still got twist in the line, but not as bad as you described. So, I went with the stripped core method. It it seems to be working out so far. I don't have to store it in a figure eight, I wrap it and throw it in the snuffer bag.

I had the same problem. And even though I was very careful to stretch out my entire spin halyard, untwist it, then rig it to the mast, after a few races it would start kinking and getting stuck in the tramp gromet again. Some guys have done as Robi said, which is to pull the core out for the distance from the hoist block down to the clete, minus say 6 inches for clete holding, and just run the hollow jacket after the clete, down on the tramp, through the gromet, back up through the snuffer sack to the belly patches. That is the cheapest and quickest way to fix it. You will need needle and thread to secure the jacket to the core where it will be in the clete, after you do the cutting and pulling of course.

I spent the money for a custom made spin halyard from Layline, the skinny part is 3mm dyneema, the fat part is about 5mm mafioli I think, or some soft weave, it's easy on the hands and doesn't kink up on the tramp. Mike Krantz can tell you what it is, he's made lots of them.

You don't happen to know the length of the dyneema versus the fat line do you?

Mine is 25.5 feet of 1/8 inch amsteel blue and 48.5 feet of 5mm swiftcord. I got most of my lines at Hall spar from there scrap bin. http://hallinc469.corecommerce.com/Scrap-Rope-c4337/

While the layout on the Spitfire or Shadow that I sail is different, I find that if you keep the halyard lightly taut, with shockcord, I do not usually get kinks. In my opinion, the halyard in the photos above is too loose.

How thick is your shockcord? Mine may be too small as its probably 2MM and I am still getting kinks.

I think that it is 4 or 5mm. It is tight enough to keep the rope straight and not kinked. Of course there may also be a problem with your rope.