I can't believe my boat is the only one this has happend to. My Catalina 28 MK II has an in-mast furling mainsail. To install the sail, you need to feed the luff line into the mast groove while the mainsail halyard is hoisted. As I was feeding the luff line into the groove, my 1st Mate pulled up on the halyard, but what I didn't realize is that she was using the winch to do so. There apparently was some resistance, but the winch allowed her to keep on hoisting. Now the sail is halfway up the mast and is completely jammed - won't go up or down at all. NOTE: halyard itself is ok and not jammed. I'd appreciate hearing any tricks, slick or otherwiser, short of cutting it down, to unjam the sail. Thanks! Mr. Lucky
Jammed In-Mast Furling Mainsail - Haalpp!
- Thread starter Mr Lucky16746
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Depends how high it went
before it jammed. You will probably just have to grab sail and pull down with the halyard free and try to go up/down/up/down to try to get some movement started. If you had a reef cringle you could use that with a line, but if the sail was made for in-mast furling there won't be one. Brute force got you there, and I think that's what will get you back! Good luck!!
before it jammed. You will probably just have to grab sail and pull down with the halyard free and try to go up/down/up/down to try to get some movement started. If you had a reef cringle you could use that with a line, but if the sail was made for in-mast furling there won't be one. Brute force got you there, and I think that's what will get you back! Good luck!!
Try this:
Sometimes if the sail jams in the track on the way up , you can try pulling down on the luff with steady pressure while still having someone keep upward tension on the halyard. If there is just a little bit of a kink in the luff line, this can free it. Then bring the sail all the way down, lubricate the luff with McLube and try again slowly. (I guess that's one of the reasons I opted for a traditional setup, although the same thing can and does happen with traditional setups.)
Sometimes if the sail jams in the track on the way up , you can try pulling down on the luff with steady pressure while still having someone keep upward tension on the halyard. If there is just a little bit of a kink in the luff line, this can free it. Then bring the sail all the way down, lubricate the luff with McLube and try again slowly. (I guess that's one of the reasons I opted for a traditional setup, although the same thing can and does happen with traditional setups.)
Another Thought
If the brute force that Chris suggested and that you probably already tried didn't work then maybe you need more force than you can apply by hand. How about if you take a line through a turning block at the base of the mast and by going up the mast to the top of the sail and attaching the line to the same attachment as the main halyard. Maybe using the same winch you can apply an equal force (or a little greater) in the downward direction and get the sail down without doing any damage. Good luck.
If the brute force that Chris suggested and that you probably already tried didn't work then maybe you need more force than you can apply by hand. How about if you take a line through a turning block at the base of the mast and by going up the mast to the top of the sail and attaching the line to the same attachment as the main halyard. Maybe using the same winch you can apply an equal force (or a little greater) in the downward direction and get the sail down without doing any damage. Good luck.
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