Haul or Nothing - Raising the Mainsail

Our 34-footr with fully-battened main is reasonably easy to hoist, though we also have expensive cars. A major cause of friction is the halyard clutch in the closed position. Rather than buy modern clutches, we have got used to opening the clutch when I hoist the main and my wife closing the clutch at my command when I am almost there. A few inches of tensioning is all that is needed. Early in the season I find it helps to wear gloves.
 
srah1953 said:
Is there an easy way of cleaning the mast track while mast is up?
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I was thinking of carving an I-beam sort of shape out of spongey foam, soaking that in whatever lubricant, and running it up and down the groove with the halyard and a downhaul.

Pete
 
52ft LOD, 67ft LOA gaff main. Two of us (one on throat, one on peak) can easily get it all the way up and up to the right tension.
I can do it alone if patient - I have to change from throat to peak and back again to keep the gaff more or less horizontal all the way up.
 
michaelchapman said:
52ft LOD, 67ft LOA gaff main. Two of us (one on throat, one on peak) can easily get it all the way up and up to the right tension.
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Yebbut, gaff mains are betterer!

Seriously, in almost all aspects except windward performance, I found Kindred Spirit's gaff main more practical than Ariam's bermudan one.

Pete
 
srah1953 said:
Is there an easy way of cleaning the mast track while mast is up?
Click to expand...

Yes.

Lump of rag impregnated with furniture polish rolled into a chipolata shape and tied in the middle with light line, attach halyard and downhaul to the line, poke up mast track with line exiting slot pull up and down the mast a few times.

Plank
 
Just today I felt it was becoming difficult to pull the main right to the top by hand.

Later I sprayed each car with ptfe and I walked up the mast steps and sprayed the track up to the crosstrees.

It went up extremely easily and I know that many of the cars are in a poor state.

It's usually a build up of salt for seagoing sailboats that can causes the problem and often a good hose down with water

will improve things if lubricants are not available.
 
One of the things that I found when I came back to sailing after a lay off for a while was how much harder to was to get the mainsail up. I assumed I was getting weaker until I sailed on a boat with the halyard winches at the mast and suddenly found I had no problem getting the main up on a fairly large boat. All those blocks and organisers to get the main back to the cockpit do add a lot of friction in many set ups. Mainsails have got bigger since the days of IOR and 140% genoas too.

I had a friend who revamp his boat with new bigger (and very expensive) blocks and even changed the angles of the lines a bit and the difference was amazing. You found yourself looking up to make sure the mainsail was still attached to the halyard it was so easy to do. Went from needing the winch from about 2/3 of the way up to just needing it for tensioning.
 
I used to sail with a two-to-one tail on the main halyard. you could pull anything ( including crew) up with that. One of the advantages of having external halyards I suppose..

I find the wind strength, angle, slack in the sheet etc effect things as much as the weight of the sail ( f/b, Ruttgersons and intermediate slides)..
Bringing all back to the cockpit I now just put a foot against the bulkhead and haul, whereas at the mast I would use my body weight I suppose..
Quite often the last 3 metres has to be winched, which is tedious cos its a tad slower..
 
Blueboatman said:
I used to sail with a two-to-one tail on the main halyard. you could pull anything ( including crew) up with that. One of the advantages of having external halyards I suppose..

I find the wind strength, angle, slack in the sheet etc effect things as much as the weight of the sail ( f/b, Ruttgersons and intermediate slides)..
Bringing all back to the cockpit I now just put a foot against the bulkhead and haul, whereas at the mast I would use my body weight I suppose..
Quite often the last 3 metres has to be winched, which is tedious cos its a tad slower..
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I have a 12 to 1 mechanical advantage for the last bit. Easy to get the luff as tight as you would ever want it.
 
Can I get the main up as far as the spreaders by hand? Technically not: no spreaders.

Do I use the winches? No, none on the boat.

Do I lubricate the track? No, haven't got one.

Friction problems with leads to cockpit? No, they all end at the bottom of the mast, so a nice simple system with not much to go wrong.

So are we talking a dinghy here? No - a gaffer of course! Boat is 31' and sail quite large: I see lots of modern bermudans around where the boom doesn't overhang the cockpit, whereas mine overhangs the cockpit, the deck behind the cockpit, and then another couple of feet for luck. I have a 3:1 halyard and that does the trick. The main is loose footed and no need to go beserk with tightening the luff anyway.

To be fair, it's not all a bed of roses: working on restoring the boat over the last 18 months of seemingly continuously awful weather has not been great; the brief heatwave experienced by Cornwall recently served only to open up a few deck seams which a return to business as usual (rain) means it's back out there with the sealant, etc etc.

Oh, and no battens to worry about either :)
 
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