H34 Hoisting the Main

[heart of gold]

I don't know if you have the problem of sticky slides when raising the main on a '34 but with a full batten sail I was having issues when hauling past halfway and was also having to pull it down when dousing. I thought of buying new replacement cabin top st winches....Considering I single hand a lot of the time I was thinking this was becoming a safety hazard. No amount of lube or cleaning seemed to help. Granted the slides in this new sail were not the best but my sailmaker assured me they were. This spring I installed a mast track from Tide Marine. Not the cheapest way to go but it was super easy to install, very high quality and the kit was complete. The only reason I would have liked to talked to the company after the install would have been to complement them on a cool product. I can now raise the sail by hand to the top and only need the winches to tension. It is a breeze to reef, even under load, and drops in a heartbeat.

 

[VINN]

if its not a swollen or enlarged halyard jamming in the upper sheeve, it could be your boom is hanging down too low at the end and should be raised with the topping lift to be level or parallel with the deck. your boom sheet and boom vang should also be slack to allow the natural curve of the luft make it to the top... btw I read your thread to the end. if it works it works.

 

[heart of gold]

Don't worry, I am pretty good at raising and lowering main sails on all kinds of different boats including mine and know all the standard tricks. The problem with a full batten main is that the leverage on the battens themselves tends to cause more jamming than a standard sail. I have fought with this since I bought the new sail and the time came that something more drastic had to happen than just putting up with it. Thanks for your advice just the same.

 

[PGIJon]

We were also experiencing the same issues and installed Tides Marine's Track and Slide System. Going up it's better but not perfect. Coming down, it's almost like it's on ice. Which is great!

 

[srhummer]

Try this it worked for me - built a track lubricator and use it at start of season before I put the sail up.

Two sail slides are screwed to a piece of 1' x 1/8" aluminum bar stock. A can of McLube is taped to the flat bar and a piece of brass tubing then taped to either side. Ths bail is made of S.S. rod from an old control cable. After inserting in the track, the rig is hoised up with the main halyard attached to the loop of line with a light downhaul on the bail. By balancing pull on the halyard and tension on the downhaul, the spray is released as the can is pulled back down the mast.

http://www.cruisingonstrider.us/TrackLube.htm

I used plastic straws and coat hanger wire not brass tube and SS wire and it has worked perfect - in fact had neighbors ask to use it and had to remind them I wanted it back.

ALL CREDIT GOES TO THE SKIPPER OF S/V STRIDER - IT IS HIS IDEA & WEBSITE