Recently bought a 2001 Hunter 320. The mainsail is very hard going up and slow coming down. the slides on the battens appear to be worn. I tried to remove the screws holding the plug without success. I think the problem may be corrosion due to dissimilar metals i.e., alum mast and stainless screws. Does anyone have similar experiences ? Also due to my bad vision I not sure weather the screws are square head slots or philips?
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Sail slug problems
If you mean the stopper at the bottom of your mast,just before your gate, it will come free. You might have to lubricate it well with a good penitrating fluid and apply some solid pressure when you are releasing it. It is relly important to know if you are dealing with Robertson screw heads (square) or with a phillips head. The tool for the removal of one will not do the other.
If you mean the stopper at the bottom of your mast,just before your gate, it will come free. You might have to lubricate it well with a good penitrating fluid and apply some solid pressure when you are releasing it. It is relly important to know if you are dealing with Robertson screw heads (square) or with a phillips head. The tool for the removal of one will not do the other.
The most likely cause of the mainsail having trouble going up and down is the size of the halyard and the masthead sheeve. The sheeve carries a large load and needs to be lubricated or replaced. Halyard diameter is the other major factor which causes high turning friction. If you check the archives you'll find this a common problem with downsizing solving it.
been there
Always leave your reefing lines loose and make sure the Voom Vang is loosened before raising the main. Point the boat into the wind and make sure you clear the lazy jacks. Youl be able to raise it 90 percent by hand and then the starboard winch can assist you the rest of the way. Track cleaners and lubricants will help slightly but keeping everything loose is what does it. The 320 has a large roach mainsail from where the boat gets most of its power. It is heavy and thus harder to raise. When anchoring for a short while in light winds just open the halyard clutch and let it go down 10% instead of taking it all the way down. Hope this helps.
Always leave your reefing lines loose and make sure the Voom Vang is loosened before raising the main. Point the boat into the wind and make sure you clear the lazy jacks. Youl be able to raise it 90 percent by hand and then the starboard winch can assist you the rest of the way. Track cleaners and lubricants will help slightly but keeping everything loose is what does it. The 320 has a large roach mainsail from where the boat gets most of its power. It is heavy and thus harder to raise. When anchoring for a short while in light winds just open the halyard clutch and let it go down 10% instead of taking it all the way down. Hope this helps.
Track plug
By "track plug" do you mean the piece of aluminum track (gate?) that is removed in order to remove the sail slugs and sail? If so, and if it is the same as my 2000 H340 - then it is held in place by two Phillips head screws. They have a nasty habit of dropping into the sail track if you back then out too far. Try some PB or WD-40 and perhaps a manual impact driver to get the screws out. My main sail is also hard to raise. Take Benny's advice and leave your reefing lines loose. I am adding cheek blocks to the luff reef cringles and perhaps the leech cringles as well on my main to try to reduce some of the friction of the reefing system.
By "track plug" do you mean the piece of aluminum track (gate?) that is removed in order to remove the sail slugs and sail? If so, and if it is the same as my 2000 H340 - then it is held in place by two Phillips head screws. They have a nasty habit of dropping into the sail track if you back then out too far. Try some PB or WD-40 and perhaps a manual impact driver to get the screws out. My main sail is also hard to raise. Take Benny's advice and leave your reefing lines loose. I am adding cheek blocks to the luff reef cringles and perhaps the leech cringles as well on my main to try to reduce some of the friction of the reefing system.
Palmolive, it's not just for dishes
A sailmaker in this area gave me this tip and worked so well for lubing the jib when installing it on the roller furling that I tried it on the main track too and it works very well. Lubes tend to stain sails, so the regular old green Palmolive is an inexpensive lube, will clean the track, will not stain sails or deck, and will reduce one inventory item in your bag of boat tonics. Just pour some down the track and let it run a bit down the other guide pieces. I pour some on every month or so the morning of a sail and the sail slides a lot better. I have a different track plug/lock deal with a thumb screw which sounds equally ineffective so can't help you there. You might also want to check you halyard for signs of wear if it's not running over the top of the mast properly.
A sailmaker in this area gave me this tip and worked so well for lubing the jib when installing it on the roller furling that I tried it on the main track too and it works very well. Lubes tend to stain sails, so the regular old green Palmolive is an inexpensive lube, will clean the track, will not stain sails or deck, and will reduce one inventory item in your bag of boat tonics. Just pour some down the track and let it run a bit down the other guide pieces. I pour some on every month or so the morning of a sail and the sail slides a lot better. I have a different track plug/lock deal with a thumb screw which sounds equally ineffective so can't help you there. You might also want to check you halyard for signs of wear if it's not running over the top of the mast properly.
Welcome
Welcome Marty to H320 land. We bought our 2001 H320 Time Bandit almost a year ago and its getting to be more fun with each sail. I know exactly what you mean, if you search the archives you probably can find my post that was almost identical to yours about the effort needed to raise the main!! Like the other guys have said, if you loosen everything up (I think the mainsheet is the only other thing they didn't mention) and especially pull the reefing lines well out of the boom it will become MUCH easier. Oh, I also tightened up the topping lift slightly. That said, I just use silicon spray on the slugs and channel and I am now satisfied. I can raise it myself and only have to crank the last little bit however if you have a helper to go pull down and out at the mast you don't even have to crank except to tension. BUT, I too have been looking at that plug and wondering how you get it out of there. Like John said, I can not even imagine how I could grab the screws before they dropped down and splashed away ;-) MAYBE, they are long enough that you can get ahold of them outside of the channel before they come all the way unscrewed? Gary
Welcome Marty to H320 land. We bought our 2001 H320 Time Bandit almost a year ago and its getting to be more fun with each sail. I know exactly what you mean, if you search the archives you probably can find my post that was almost identical to yours about the effort needed to raise the main!! Like the other guys have said, if you loosen everything up (I think the mainsheet is the only other thing they didn't mention) and especially pull the reefing lines well out of the boom it will become MUCH easier. Oh, I also tightened up the topping lift slightly. That said, I just use silicon spray on the slugs and channel and I am now satisfied. I can raise it myself and only have to crank the last little bit however if you have a helper to go pull down and out at the mast you don't even have to crank except to tension. BUT, I too have been looking at that plug and wondering how you get it out of there. Like John said, I can not even imagine how I could grab the screws before they dropped down and splashed away ;-) MAYBE, they are long enough that you can get ahold of them outside of the channel before they come all the way unscrewed? Gary
Thanks for all the advise
I used a hand impact driver. I expanded the gate track enough for the philips bit to rotate freely. I replaced the slugs on the battens. It didn't help much.the battens twist too much causing the slugs to bind. I'm thinking that 2 3/4 long slugs would help. The gate is held in place with 2 threaded philips head screws. There are theads in the gate and the mast so if you don't back the screws out too far, the won't drop down the track. Just in case stuff a rag into the track just below the gate. Thanks to all, Marty C.
I used a hand impact driver. I expanded the gate track enough for the philips bit to rotate freely. I replaced the slugs on the battens. It didn't help much.the battens twist too much causing the slugs to bind. I'm thinking that 2 3/4 long slugs would help. The gate is held in place with 2 threaded philips head screws. There are theads in the gate and the mast so if you don't back the screws out too far, the won't drop down the track. Just in case stuff a rag into the track just below the gate. Thanks to all, Marty C.
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