Hi, we are about to buy a Hunter 32 Vision. Keep reading at various websites about the difficulty of raising and lowering the mainsail. Seems Hunter is also aware of this by offering a power winch in later models. How hard is it to raise/lower the mainsail? Can one person do it? Are there any work arounds to make it easier (besides getting a power winch)? Is it slower to raise/lower than a regular main sail? Thanks for any info.
Hunter 32 Vision - sail question
- Thread starter gulfislander
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I usually go to the mast and pull it up and my wife will pull in the slack from the cockpit. One person could do it from the cockpit. It would just be a bit slower winching it up once it gets too heavy. Its quite easy to drop the sail it pretty much comes down by itself.
An other option is to do what cats do. Rig a two-part tackle for the main halyard. A block at the head, the halyard dead-ended at the masthead, lead through the block and back up to the sheave. Use a good quality low-diameter spectra line. I also got some low-friction sail slides and loose-webbed them to the sail thereby giving the battens some twisting room which greatly reduced the friction up and down. This is manageable and besides, will help build your (or wife's) upper body strength and broaden your vocabulary.
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