Single-Handed Rigging


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Single-Handed Rigging System Design

Lines:

Blue/Red - Combination Jib Halyard and Downhaul in a continous loop.

Yellow - Main Halyard

Green - Boom Top Lift to hold the boom up even when the main is down.

Purple - Lazy Jack (or similar) to capture the main while lowered.

Design Challenges:

There is very little space on the cabin top of my Catalina 22 (because of the pop-top).  There is barely enough room to feed a single line between the pop-top and the hand rail; and certainly no space to fit a winch on the cabin top, either (see picture).  I do not think it is a good idea to affix any of the rigging hardware on the pop-top (great inconvenience when you pop the top).

I have noticed some Catalina 22's where a winch was mounted to the cabin top by reducing the handrail by 1 loop (from 5 loops down to 4 loops).  I would rather not cut down the hand rails, so I will set the system up to feed the lines to the rear winches (we will see how it goes).

The Single-Handed rigging 'system' includes the following components (links below). The blocks and associated hardware are mostly Harken, with a Ronstan here and there. Total cost was about $500.

Mast Plate, Cheek Blocks, Aft Cleats, Jib Downhaul, Lazy Jack and Tiller Tamer.

I completed the single-handed rigging design just before the 1999 season got underway. I can now sail the boat single-handed, from the cockpit. The links above are some pictures of the single-handed set-up.

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