Difficulty hoisting furling genoa

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Miker

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I've just had the foot of my genoa restitched but they couldn't repair the frayed cord at the head of the sail as the sailmaker had left. Last time I hoisted the sail it took me ages and I ended up with blisters on my hands from tugging on the halyard. The problem is that the cord at the head of the sail will not easily slide across the joints in the slots. The lady in the chandlers suggested french chalk along the cord but I can't help thinking that the problem is the frayed cord at the top.
Has anyone any ideas to help? I was thinking of putting a dab of resin on the top of the cord to stiffen it, but was wondering whether that was a stoke of genius or a damn fool idea.
I'll have the cord repaired properly over the winter break and am just looking for a quick and easy solution for now.
 
What about some thin sewing thread to "whip" the offending end into shape ..... or spinnaker tape to fair it in and hold neatly ? If you use tape - make it really tight and sew through behind the cord to form a neat rounded form ...... Quite often an unravelled cord into fibres will compress quite small compared to its former twisted and laid up construction ....
 
........and some Halford Silicone Rubber Lubricant. It seems to loosen everything up. Don't spray it any where you may want to paint in the future.
 
You could try spraying with PTFE as the sail is offered up to the slot.

Are you happy that you do not have sag on your forestay as this can make it difficult to hoist the sail. Also if it is trapping at the joints it may be time to look at the rivets linking the joints together, they may be worn or broken thus the joints open and cause the problems you describe.
 
No argument at all with what others say here - good advice. To save a few bob if you go down the lubricant path, however... I used Tesco's silicone furniture polish in the mast groove when I was having problems getting my new main to hoist at the start of the year and it's been great ever since. It only cost about 40p for an aerosol can /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif and there's enough left to do it again 2 or 3 times!
 
Your local chandler will stock one of several varieties of dry spray lubricant such as "drylube" that can be sprayed on the bolt rope of the sail making hoisting much easier.
 
I like your idea best of all. If you wet the frayed end out with something that will harden, like epoxy resin, you could then file it down (once set) to the correct size and shape to feed through the foil and across the joints.
 
Thanks everyone for the helpful suggestions. I think that I shall bind the cord with cotton thread to pull it tight and then dip the end into epoxy resin. I've just remembered that I have some silicone lubricant left over from a plumbing job, so I'll use that. Also I will tighten the backstay to tension the forestay before I hoist the genoa.
 
Thanks again everyone. The sail went up easier this time but it was still hard work. I used candle wax and wore cotton gloves to prevent blisters!
Despite the resin coating, the cloth around the cord rucked up when shoved into the slot so I think that a proper repair is called for this winter.
 
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