Topping Lift Upgraded

Since the solar panels were installed in the hard dodger, I have been concerned that the topping lift was not beefy enough. Quarter inch double braid seemed to be insufficient and it was not possible to increase the diameter without significant modification of the boom. Also, the single block did not deliver sufficient leverage to lift the boom with the extra weight of the sail pack when the mainsail is lowered. The boom vang struggles with the extra weight as well. To deal with these issues, I replaced the double double braid with block with Dyneema and the single with two blocks, a Schaefer 3 Series Single Block Stainless Steel Cheeks with Becket and Swivel Shackle and a Schaefer 3 Series Single Stainless Block with Front-Side Shackle. A Brummel Lock Eye-Splice was used to attach the Dyneema to the becket.

A Spinlock XAS single clutch was mounted on the boom the finish the upgrade: