Looks like front side rigging is loose Also added this to furler forestay ,take a lot of strain off t-ball and lets forestay move in multiple angles
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I love this idea!
Congrats on a great boat and a beautiful family! On the rigging, not seeing your furler line, but maybe its on the starboard side?
Oops, I forgot that one but you're right! I took the furling line off because it was nasty and falling apart. Forgot to put a new one on before casting off. Ok, so TWO rigging mistakes...
Regarding the T-ball at the top of your furler. I step my mast 3-4 times a season, doing it for six yrs and never bent mine. I leave the headsail furler attached to the mast while trailering and only remove it for winter storage. When stepping the mast, You need to make sure the T-bolt is in the right position (Pointing straight down the mast and not pointing out to the side) before you start to raise the mast. I would recommend getting your hands on an owners manual and verify the stepping process for your model. Step is slowly and when you get to 90% up, check your 4 turnbuckles for the shrouds to make sure they are straight up and not binding on the "U" bolts. The stepping instructions suggest pushing the white boots down onto the "U" bolts that will hold the cable straight up but it don't work to well for me so I watch them very closely that last 10%. I attached the mast stepping instructions for my H240, hopefully they will help.
If there is a problem with the T balls rotating and kinking the stays it may be with the keepers that hold them in place. At this age of the boats, the original rubber keepers are probably missing or hard and loose. That would allow the fitting to rotate and get kinked. The new keepers (in the forum store), are a different design, made of plastic, and need to be pop-riveted on. But they hold the T-ball firmly in place.
90% of my rigging issues were with the T Balls. My mast is new so it has the updated keepers. They keep the tballs from falling out, and that's about it. They don't do anything to keep them from fouling at 45° and getting stuck.
So I pulled the wires down in line with the mast and wrapped a small bungee to keep them there. Once the mast is raised, the bungee just stretches as the lines tension. Genius! Well, I discovered the flaw in this plan after I cast off and tried to raise the mainsail. There was a bungee in the way of the sail track! 20ft up above my head!
Ok, what if we reef the mainsail, then we don't have to raise it all the way. Oh no, the reefing lines are missing! No problem, I know how to tie a reefing knot. Here's some spare rope...
Ok, Mainsail is set, but underpowered. Unfurl the jib! ...Where are the jibsheets?? Under the cockpit seat.
... Several lessons were learned that day.
I decided to order new jibsheets, mainsheet and main halyard. Found some Marlow XLS on clearance and ended up ordering new everything!
I cleaned and lubricated the mainsheet fiddles. This made a huge difference in stepping the mast.
The boom was new and had a half dozen bails in it--only one was actually riveted in. It was closest to the mast so I assume it is the vang. I measured from the mast to the mainsheet U-Bolt in the cockpit floor and riveted a bail on the boom so it would be straight above. Then I measured the sail from the leech to the reefing eye in the luff and riveted a bail slightly forward of there. I used this diagram I found from a H240 and fished new lines thru the boom for the outhaul and reef.
They work ok. I wish I could get more leverage so I am thinking of adding some blocks to the mast base so I can run the lines to a winch.
-Z