Halyard sheaves

May 31, 2007
776
Hunter 37 cutter Blind River
81 Hunter 30. Main halliard sheave at truck spins but not when under any pressure.. I suspect bushings or bearings are done. Anybody have experience in fixing this? Is it possible without dropping the stick?
 
Sep 24, 2018
3,519
Catalina 30 MKIII Chicago
You can buy some time by greasing the bushing but eventually the sheave and bushing will need to be replaced. I had a friend use a mast stepping crane to hoist himself high enough to service his mast head. In most cases this would require dropping the mast but not all. Depends on how the mast head is configured and how much access you have to the sheaves
 

Joe

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Jun 1, 2004
8,224
Catalina 27 Mission Bay, San Diego
Use a thin, stiff electrical wire (not stranded) to loop around the sheave, then twist the loop to secure the piece. Move the halyard out of its channel to allow room for the wire loop to fit neatly around the rim. Other material you might use could be zip ties or a length of solder. Perhaps take a different approach and use a piece of spring wire....may be difficult to find the right dimension.. but I'm just tossing out ideas now. I've had success with the electrical wire, but not sure about the design of you mast head. Good luck. I find solving little challenges like this to be quite satisfying. Keep an open mind. heh, heh.