Slab reef mainsail refuses to drop on its own

[Ripster]

We have a fairly new Bav 36 with a slab reef main sail that packs away in bag on the boom - all fairly straight forward, But... when we drop the mainsail, it comes down about 2/3rds way and then we have to pull it down and manually encourage it to flake as it appears so thick and crisp it does not want to fold/flake by its own weight. Peops have suggested that this is because it is new and will take time to "loosen" up a bit and develop its own shape. Others have suggested that the sliders in the mast need to be sprayed with a silicon lube as they must be sticking a bit. Is this a common issue and what lube should be used if any?

The halyard is free running so not preventing anything and the sail is easy to raise by hand only needing a winch to tension it at full haul. So, do others use a lube on the mast track?

Any advice welcome to a relatively new Raggie

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

We have a fairly new Bav 36 with a slab reef main sail that packs away in bag on the boom - all fairly straight forward, But... when we drop the mainsail, it comes down about 2/3rds way and then we have to pull it down and manually encourage it to flake as it appears so thick and crisp it does not want to fold/flake by its own weight. Peops have suggested that this is because it is new and will take time to "loosen" up a bit and develop its own shape. Others have suggested that the sliders in the mast need to be sprayed with a silicon lube as they must be sticking a bit. Is this a common issue and what lube should be used if any?

The halyard is free running so not preventing anything and the sail is easy to raise by hand only needing a winch to tension it at full haul. So, do others use a lube on the mast track?

Any advice welcome to a relatively new Raggie

Both bits of advice are valid. However, even the crispest sail will drop on its own weight if the sliders are free and lubricated. If the are simple plastic sliders in a groove however they will not be as free as external batten cars.

We have always just used silicon spray on the cars and groove. Works a treat. The halyard needs to be free, but you are on that.

 

[thalassa]

Peops have suggested that this is because it is new and will take time to "loosen" up a bit and develop its own shape. Others have suggested that the sliders in the mast need to be sprayed with a silicon lube as they must be sticking a bit. Is this a common issue and what lube should be used if any?

The halyard is free running so not preventing anything and the sail is easy to raise by hand only needing a winch to tension it at full haul. So, do others use a lube on the mast track?

Any advice welcome to a relatively new Raggie

. IMHO avoid silicone lubricant. It tends to gather dirt over the months, making it worse in the end. A spraycan with 'dry' teflon from the DIY is OK. If you got money to spare, Harken 'Sailcote' also works well.
Success with the boat!

 

[Ripster]

Both bits of advice are valid. However, even the crispest sail will drop on its own weight if the sliders are free and lubricated. If the are simple plastic sliders in a groove however they will not be as free as external batten cars.

We have always just used silicon spray on the cars and groove. Works a treat. The halyard needs to be free, but you are on that.

Yep - been doing some other reading and I think mine are alloy slugs (fairly heavy individual units) and I think perhaps first task is clean the track by running a neatly folded rag up and down the track via the Halyard with a line on the other end to ensure it comes back down. Having done this a couple of times, put some sil lube on the (another clean bit) rag and get a coating up the track. Then give each slug a spray too. I think the track cleaning only really needs to be the lower half (in case things get stuck ) All sound feasible?

 

[Ripster]

. IMHO avoid silicone lubricant. It tends to gather dirt over the months, making it worse in the end. A spraycan with 'dry' teflon from the DIY is OK. If you got money to spare, Harken 'Sailcote' also works well.
Success with the boat!

OK thanks. The Sailkote stuff is not that expensive IMO (in boat terms) and looks a good bet.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

"A fairly new" yacht and main should drop ok. I would check if the boom vang or topping lift is adjusted correctly before spraying anything. There should be no aft tension on the luff at all. Aft tension on the luff is caused when the aft end of the boom sags down too much. Initially the sail will drop OK by about 1/3 as the top 1/3 of the luff is not really affected by the weight of the sail that much. However, the lower 2/3 of the luff has a much larger sail area dropping back aft and pulling aft tension on it. So pick the boom up on the topping lift, quite high initially (if you have a boom vang there will be a stop within it to avoid over extending), and then drop the main to see if that makes it easier.

 

[ccw]

IMHO you will always have to go to the mast to pull down the last 3rd, if you want a complete solution, these work great. Easier to pull the sail up as well as drop

http://www.ronstan.co.uk/marine5/range.asp?RnID=324

 

[photodog]

"A fairly new" yacht and main should drop ok. I would check if the boom vang or topping lift is adjusted correctly before spraying anything. There should be no aft tension on the luff at all. Aft tension on the luff is caused when the aft end of the boom sags down too much. Initially the sail will drop OK by about 1/3 as the top 1/3 of the luff is not really affected by the weight of the sail that much. However, the lower 2/3 of the luff has a much larger sail area dropping back aft and pulling aft tension on it. So pick the boom up on the topping lift, quite high initially (if you have a boom vang there will be a stop within it to avoid over extending), and then drop the main to see if that makes it easier.

Nice one, thanks... Problem is i have to go to the mast to adjust the topping lift anyways..

 

[Ripster]

"A fairly new" yacht and main should drop ok. I would check if the boom vang or topping lift is adjusted correctly before spraying anything. There should be no aft tension on the luff at all. Aft tension on the luff is caused when the aft end of the boom sags down too much. Initially the sail will drop OK by about 1/3 as the top 1/3 of the luff is not really affected by the weight of the sail that much. However, the lower 2/3 of the luff has a much larger sail area dropping back aft and pulling aft tension on it. So pick the boom up on the topping lift, quite high initially (if you have a boom vang there will be a stop within it to avoid over extending), and then drop the main to see if that makes it easier.

Now that is an interesting tip - thanks. I have not tried raising the boom at all when dropping the main. In fact I have found that to get the greatest speed from the boat, I tend to have the boom very low, compressing the kicker and this would probably be its position nearly every time I have dropped the main so could be tensioning the luff to much when there is less sail weight to fall and thus it "appears" to be sticking. This is the first thing I'll do before trying anything else. My topping lift sheet is in the cockpit, so no visit to the mast needed

 

[Boathook]

I use sheen furniture polish on my mainsail slides and mast track and this seems to do the job and lasts half a season. Just spray on as the main is hoisted.

 

[A1Sailor]

Can we assume that the sail is "empty" and the yacht more or less head to wind when dropping the sail? OP is "a relatively new Raggie".

 

[Ripster]

Can we assume that the sail is "empty" and the yacht more or less head to wind when dropping the sail? OP is "a relatively new Raggie".

Yes you can. Bow Hd to wind. I have even tried it with loose mainsail sheets to allow the sail to self point and ensure no power at all - but same result. I think it could be the leach is too tight (kicker pulled hard down) so putting tension/resistence on the slugs/cars in the mast track. First off I will try raising the boom up to slaken everything off and see if this changes anything.

 

[KellysEye]

It's normal that the last third won't come down on it's own it's simply not heavy enough and our mainsail is 8oz cloth. It also won't flake on it's own you need to do it, otherwise you end up with most of the sail on the deck.

 

[nimbusgb]

+1 kicker.

Any load on my strut kicker and the main locks up completely so I'd say try take some load off the boom, lust a tweak on the topping lift may solve it.

 

[ianat182]

We all assume too that the sail is not a fully battened one, which really does have to be lowered head to wind ,tensioning of the battens being the reason here. I'd still teflon spray the sliders anyway.

ianat182