We just purchased a 387 with in mast furling and are about to take the mainsail down. Does anyone have instructions or advice? Thank You
Catalina 387 mainsail
- Thread starter Sailingnat
- Start date
We have a C387 but a standard main. I would post this question in the C380/C387 owner's group on Yahoo - you will get a lot of helpful responses.
Re: Taking down your mainsail
Best advice I can give is to try to do it with no wind around. Pull the sail all the way out and then I take a wrap around the winch and lock the halyard into the self tail of the winch.
I start slowly letting out some of the halyard and have an assistant help me flake the sail back and forth from one side of the boom to the other. I try to keep the flakes about a width of two to three feet and just take my time and ease the sail down working the flakes back and forth keeping things as neat as I can until I'm done. Then we set the sail out on an area of flat ground and tidy things up pulling any wrinkles out of the flakes and fold the sail up and put it in the bag.
Do you have a loft where you plan to take the sail to have it inspected for wear and repaired if need be and then shipped off to be cleaned?
I usually wrap a piece of strapping material around the foil about 5 to 6' above the boom and pull that tight and secure it around the outside of the mast to keep the foil from slapping and banging inside the mast while the sail is removed from the boat.
Best advice I can give is to try to do it with no wind around. Pull the sail all the way out and then I take a wrap around the winch and lock the halyard into the self tail of the winch.
I start slowly letting out some of the halyard and have an assistant help me flake the sail back and forth from one side of the boom to the other. I try to keep the flakes about a width of two to three feet and just take my time and ease the sail down working the flakes back and forth keeping things as neat as I can until I'm done. Then we set the sail out on an area of flat ground and tidy things up pulling any wrinkles out of the flakes and fold the sail up and put it in the bag.
Do you have a loft where you plan to take the sail to have it inspected for wear and repaired if need be and then shipped off to be cleaned?
I usually wrap a piece of strapping material around the foil about 5 to 6' above the boom and pull that tight and secure it around the outside of the mast to keep the foil from slapping and banging inside the mast while the sail is removed from the boat.