halyard wrap

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PWR

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Advice sought please - halyard wrapped at the top of the forestay (Plastimo 608) on sadler 25. Tried loosening halyard etc., not shifting.

Is there any easy solution that does not require either going up the mast or accessing the masthead somehow? Any merit in taking off the foot of the furler gear to allow it move more freely and get the sail down that way?

For the future I will try to see what caused it and whether a diverter would be worthwhile, but there are 3 weeks left before boat is lifted and I'd like to keep sailing!

Ta,

PWR
 
Have you tried unfurling the jib part way then refurling.I don't have a diverter on mine and apart from leading the halyard behind the spreaders I have to check the furler each time too.
I take it that it is the jib halyard that is wrapped? Could try going alongside a jetty at low tide and heel the boat toward the jetty and use a boat hook to unwrap it. I guess that your mast would be about 28ft,so might work. A couple of bods help to lower and raise the mast would take about an hour if it is deck mounted/pivoted.
 
If unfurling doesn't do it, shinning up the mast is the quick & easy solution. Just unshackle the halliard & unwind it before refastening. It will only take 10 mins.

What is trapped? If it's the Genny halliard, release it at the foot of the mast & try unfurling again. Have a look at the Plastimo site, it is possible that your bent halliard shackle is not set up correctly
 
I cannot make any further suggestions to unravel it and I cannot see how taking off anything at the bottom will help.

Re the diverter. The commonly used diverter wheel cannot be fitted without dismantling the spar so the fairlead fixed to the mast is the only option.

In the absence of the diverter wheel the fairlead (part number 25677 for a 608 furler) should be fitted to the mast so that the halyard is held away from the forestay at an angle of no less than 10° but not more than 20°.

Installation instructions for the Plastimo furlers can be found HERE
 
Thanks to you both. Its the genny halyard, and I tried loosening it off before unfurling/refurling, but too much pressure on from the snagged halyard, can only get the sail 1/3rd way out. Mast would be much work to move. So, up the mast is the correct solution. 17.5 stone of me says that won't be easy!

Time to convince one of my kids about the the joys of assisted climbing.

PWR
 
I've posted this quite a few times and have to say that it is the most positive, absolutely works everytime system ... it has halyard still at best line of pull to hoist sail - that is straight ...

It means a second light line to handle when hoisting - but honest - it works.

I had the 'doughnut' diverter - rubbish ! Fine until furler gets a touch of salt / crud in there to stiffen it up ... I don't like halyard diverted - as then you are applying hoist effort at bad angle ....

So here's El Luther's answer to make wrap a thing of the past :

halyardssagenny.jpg


Simple block riveted to mast front ... light 6mm line is good enough ... same as furling line is fine. So halyard swivel is held positively by this and prevented from wrapping ... Doesn't even have to be tight - as long as it's set enough to stop it turning.
 
PWR said:
Thanks to you both. Its the genny halyard, and I tried loosening it off before unfurling/refurling, but too much pressure on from the snagged halyard, can only get the sail 1/3rd way out. Mast would be much work to move. So, up the mast is the correct solution. 17.5 stone of me says that won't be easy!

Time to convince one of my kids about the the joys of assisted climbing.

PWR
Click to expand...

There's plenty of info on these boards about mast climbing - nothing to be frightened of if you take sensible precautions. A good climbing harness (a harness will support an inverted person, a bosun's chair won't) is a must and won't break the bank.

Also, be sure to check the forestay for damage. If you've been straining to furl/unfurl the jib, then it's quite easy to unlay the forestay, resulting in a very significantly weakened stay). I know from personal experience ....
 
PWR said:
Advice sought please - halyard wrapped at the top of the forestay (Plastimo 608) on sadler 25. Tried loosening halyard etc., not shifting.

Is there any easy solution that does not require either going up the mast or accessing the masthead somehow? Any merit in taking off the foot of the furler gear to allow it move more freely and get the sail down that way?

For the future I will try to see what caused it and whether a diverter would be worthwhile, but there are 3 weeks left before boat is lifted and I'd like to keep sailing!

Ta,

PWR
Click to expand...

Oddly enough, I managed to wrap my main sail halyard around the Radar reflector yesterday!

Not the first time either.

At sea I tried 'flicking' the halyard, but only succeeded to wrap it around the radar as well. So I decided to wait until I was on the pontoon to do the deed.

My solution, which worked so well,and quickly was to hoist the main halyard with two attached warps. the first was coiled and tied off as you would put the warp away, but the loop through the coil was tied with a wooden spoon. Attached to the wooden spoon was some fishing line. A second warp was attached to pull the lain halyard back to behing the mast once the wrap was sorted.

So I hoisted the halyard with its coiled warp until it was in front of the mast, the fishing line retrieved the spoon, and the coil fell out in front of the mast. this coil/warp was then used to free the wrap arounfd the radar and refector.

The other warp was then used to pull the mail hallyard back to where it should be.

Worked like a dream. I have done it once at sea, but its best done in calmer conditions, even better don't allow the halyard to get wrapped in the first place.

Mj
 
prevent halyard wrap.

To prevent hayard wrap, pull the sail as high as it will go. Measure from the lower end of the luff at the point where you connect to the furling drum, to the shackle on the furling drum. Make up a strop from rope , the same length as the measurement. Connect the jib halyard to the swivel and the strop between the sail and the swivel.
The swivel is now close to the halyard exit point on the mast which will prevent the halyard from wrapping. No need to fit blocks etc.
 
Or even simpler . . .

.
Assuming that the gizmo at the top is reasonably free to rotate the most common cause of halliard wrap on a furling foresail is simply that the halliard tension is insufficient. Try hardening up the halliard once you have untwirled it and before you do any furling or unfurling. There is a high probability that this will fix it and stop it happening again.

- W
 
Happened to me on a main halyard. My approach was to the garden shed - using an extendible branch trimmer (with the blade covered by foamy stuff), I managed to unravel it and bring it down safely.

If that fails and you don't turn into Victorian Dad by shoving the kids up unless you are on a pontoon, that is if you want your kids to talk to you again.

Hang on, is that the solution to stopping them draining me of cash? ...
 
Skatt said:
To prevent hayard wrap, pull the sail as high as it will go. Measure from the lower end of the luff at the point where you connect to the furling drum, to the shackle on the furling drum. Make up a strop from rope , the same length as the measurement. Connect the jib halyard to the swivel and the strop between the sail and the swivel.
The swivel is now close to the halyard exit point on the mast which will prevent the halyard from wrapping. No need to fit blocks etc.
Click to expand...

Great if you can get the foil up that high ... many boats the foil stops well short of top of forestay and adding a strop without care could end up with swivel 'popping' of top of foil if plug is not secure in top section ! How do I know ?

One of the common causes of Plastimo 'wrap' is substitution or incorrect fitting of the 'cranked' shackle to halyard swivel. This was problem I inherited with my boat and when the doughnut failed at top ... the whole swivel assembly unscrewed. The straight shackle caught in the castellated nut that secures the bearing and swivel together ... and unwound it ..... I was lucky that I managed to save the whole and replace the swivel ....

It's possible that shackle is catching enough to pull it round and wrap ...
 
Refueler said:
I've posted this quite a few times and have to say that it is the most positive, absolutely works everytime system ... it has halyard still at best line of pull to hoist sail - that is straight ...

It means a second light line to handle when hoisting - but honest - it works.

I had the 'doughnut' diverter - rubbish ! Fine until furler gets a touch of salt / crud in there to stiffen it up ... I don't like halyard diverted - as then you are applying hoist effort at bad angle ....

So here's El Luther's answer to make wrap a thing of the past :

halyardssagenny.jpg


Simple block riveted to mast front ... light 6mm line is good enough ... same as furling line is fine. So halyard swivel is held positively by this and prevented from wrapping ... Doesn't even have to be tight - as long as it's set enough to stop it turning.
Click to expand...

Exactly what we had for 5 years. Completely foolproof! But you have to go up the mast to fit the block.
 
My mast comes down each winter - so no problem.

Considering the advantage and OP's problem - he may have to lower mast - so fitting a small block and line as I have may be his solution of never having to worry again ! ;)
 
On a friends Contessa 26 when this happened we took the boat alongside a wall. I took a spare halyard and tied it to the rear of my car. I drove the car (slowly) away from the boat pulling it over.
It was then possible to reach the offending halyard and get it down.
 
Skatt said:
To prevent hayard wrap, pull the sail as high as it will go. Measure from the lower end of the luff at the point where you connect to the furling drum, to the shackle on the furling drum. Make up a strop from rope , the same length as the measurement. Connect the jib halyard to the swivel and the strop between the sail and the swivel.
The swivel is now close to the halyard exit point on the mast which will prevent the halyard from wrapping. No need to fit blocks etc.
Click to expand...

Absolutley!
+1
 
Yes, that's good practice anyway, and it might solve the OP's problem if he's got internal halyards. It often doesn't solve the problem on older boats with external halyards as the sheave is above the swivel and in-line with the forestay (as we had)...but on a Sadler 25 this would be the first thing to try, you're right.
 
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