oldbloke
Active member
Sorry, its a quote. The "agreeing" is the main bit.
My main sail has recently become baggy between the tack of the Main sail and to approximately 1m up the luff. Then it is taught as it should be
- Thread starter ritchyp
- Start date
Daydream believer
Well-known member
Something that has occurred to me is what happened to me a few years ago when i changed to a laminate sail. this, along with a dynema halyard, put a lot of strain on the pulley inside the top of the mast. As a result it started to break. I could get the halyard to go up the mast with about half the sail but at some point the wheel stopped rotating & the halyard jammed.
My solution was to hoist a pulley to the top of the mast with a spare halyard rove through it. Then I locked off the dynema halyard & used the spare halyard until the end of the season when I had the mast dropped & replaced the pulley.
I note the OP is changing to a 12mm dynema halyard. This will just create friction. I did this & soon scrapped it for an 8mm one with a 4 tonne SWL, which is more than adequate. The 12mm one was actually dangerous to me as a SH sailor, as it made hoisting & dropping the sail difficult due to friction. One does not need a thick line for the halyard on a 10.9 M boat. One can easily pull the sail up 60-75% of the way wearing gloves & when it gets hard put the line on a winch.
As for the issue of the eye in the halyard ; that can be solved in minutes.
Pull a length of halyard through to a flexible piece. Double it over & poke it through an eye in the headboard. Then take the end with the hard eye & pass it through the loop on the opposite side of the sail. This (being bigger) will stop the sail pulling back through the loop.
The headboard will now go right up to the top of the mast. The fitting is easy to undo & does not need halyard knots etc. I actually do not have an eye spliced on, so have a plastic stopper on the end of the halyard. This does not pull back through the loop part if it is all pulled tight.
My solution was to hoist a pulley to the top of the mast with a spare halyard rove through it. Then I locked off the dynema halyard & used the spare halyard until the end of the season when I had the mast dropped & replaced the pulley.
I note the OP is changing to a 12mm dynema halyard. This will just create friction. I did this & soon scrapped it for an 8mm one with a 4 tonne SWL, which is more than adequate. The 12mm one was actually dangerous to me as a SH sailor, as it made hoisting & dropping the sail difficult due to friction. One does not need a thick line for the halyard on a 10.9 M boat. One can easily pull the sail up 60-75% of the way wearing gloves & when it gets hard put the line on a winch.
As for the issue of the eye in the halyard ; that can be solved in minutes.
Pull a length of halyard through to a flexible piece. Double it over & poke it through an eye in the headboard. Then take the end with the hard eye & pass it through the loop on the opposite side of the sail. This (being bigger) will stop the sail pulling back through the loop.
The headboard will now go right up to the top of the mast. The fitting is easy to undo & does not need halyard knots etc. I actually do not have an eye spliced on, so have a plastic stopper on the end of the halyard. This does not pull back through the loop part if it is all pulled tight.
ritchyp
Member
All sorted Thank you all! I think it was mainly the height of the boom. Hyde sails most definitely cut this sail to have the boom high to clear the spray hood.
Whilst lubricating the sail track and the mast head sheaves, I also let the sail bag/stack pack fall till it was hanging down under the boom. I have a loose footed main but the previous owner probably didn't know or forgot to tell me. I raised the main with to its limit and had a lovely taught luff. Also with the loose footed sail, when a few gusts of wind filled the sail with the lazy jacks loose and the sail bag hanging down under the boom, It had a glorious shape. No vang as I was along side but after the sail was fully raised, I tightened the outhaul and it was a sight to behold. The sail bag will be rolled up and held that way whilst under sail to stop it flapping. As a result this make it a whole lot easier to raise the main in future by not having to keep dead on into the wind without the battens catching on the lazy jacks.
Problem solved yesterday(Sunday) when these was barely any wind (Until the Thunders storm at 16:00 ish) and I learnt some things about my boat which will make life a lot easier and should improve performance by a good margin
Whilst lubricating the sail track and the mast head sheaves, I also let the sail bag/stack pack fall till it was hanging down under the boom. I have a loose footed main but the previous owner probably didn't know or forgot to tell me. I raised the main with to its limit and had a lovely taught luff. Also with the loose footed sail, when a few gusts of wind filled the sail with the lazy jacks loose and the sail bag hanging down under the boom, It had a glorious shape. No vang as I was along side but after the sail was fully raised, I tightened the outhaul and it was a sight to behold. The sail bag will be rolled up and held that way whilst under sail to stop it flapping. As a result this make it a whole lot easier to raise the main in future by not having to keep dead on into the wind without the battens catching on the lazy jacks.
Problem solved yesterday(Sunday) when these was barely any wind (Until the Thunders storm at 16:00 ish) and I learnt some things about my boat which will make life a lot easier and should improve performance by a good margin
ritchyp
Member
I checked the Dyneema I intend to use for the main and it s actually 10mm and I already bought some 8mm braid on braid to swap out the topping lift which I already bought months ago based on the length specified in the owners manual. Fortunately the mast head sheaves are metal and we gave them some good lube on Sunday so this part of the story appears to have a happy ending knock on wood
Thank to all and Laika in particular for making think about the geometry of a triangle when remembering I had lowered the boom
Thank to all and Laika in particular for making think about the geometry of a triangle when remembering I had lowered the boom
Daydream believer
Well-known member
That sounds like an unnecesary faff. If you think it is correct way to go then so beit. But look around you when sailing & see how many others adopt that idea of rolling the sail bag up under the boom..
There should be no need to ever adjust the lazy jacks once set up correctly at the start of the season.
You should only have to unzip the bag & hoist the sail. My Hyde sail is cut with the batten ends flush with the leech. I would expect yours are the same. That means that they should not catch on the lazyjacks anyway.
When you come to drop the main, are you going to have to first untie the cover then re set the lazyjacks so that the sail does not flop all over the place? Does not sound like a practical solution.
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Refueler
Well-known member
Deleted as DB pointed out - OP is sorted !!
Well done OP
Well done OP
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Daydream believer
Well-known member
Try & keep up. Have you not read the OP's post #43?
Refueler
Well-known member
No I hadn't actually ... tks for pointing to it ..
I must admit I was posting quick before going out the door to drive to yard to answer some questions on my boat ... didn't have tiome to go through all replies since last read ...
Good to hear OP is sorted ...
Daydream believer
Well-known member
We all do it
