As my knowledge base grows, I find more things I want to fix or "tune-up" on Whiskey Girl, a '73 vintage C-27. The latest bother is overriding turns on the mast winches. Watching closely when hauling the main up, the angle of the line to the winch and line size seem to conspire to make overwraps unavoidable. The main and jib halyards are internal to the mast and exit about 30 inches above the winch. This makes their entry to the winch pretty shallow. I don't know if the PO used halyards that are too thick <3/8"> when converting from rope/wire or if the exit boxes from the inside of the mast should have been closer to the winch <giving a sharper angle> but right now my solution is to remount the winch about 1 or 1-1/2 inches out from the mast at the next refit. Any suggestions?
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How many wraps?
How many turns are you putting on the drum when you hoist? 1 turn should be enough to get the sail 80% + hoisted. Then add a turn or two for the last few feet of hoist. If you have too many tuns on the winch and hoist quickly, you'll get over-rides. If you tail away from the mast, toward the top of the winch you shouldn't get over-rides. Cat 27 mast winches worked with external halyards. The lead from 30 feet worked, 30 inches should be no problem. Spacing the winches out is a bad idea, you would be adding leverage to the mast wall. Adding a shim that angles the winch to give a fair lead to the bottom of the winch would be better.
How many turns are you putting on the drum when you hoist? 1 turn should be enough to get the sail 80% + hoisted. Then add a turn or two for the last few feet of hoist. If you have too many tuns on the winch and hoist quickly, you'll get over-rides. If you tail away from the mast, toward the top of the winch you shouldn't get over-rides. Cat 27 mast winches worked with external halyards. The lead from 30 feet worked, 30 inches should be no problem. Spacing the winches out is a bad idea, you would be adding leverage to the mast wall. Adding a shim that angles the winch to give a fair lead to the bottom of the winch would be better.
Ah Ha !
Thanks Moody, I did have 3 wraps while hauling up. And while I didn't consider the moment arm on the mast wall, I did think about a shim <wedge>. I'll go out and refine my technique and see how it goes.
Thanks Moody, I did have 3 wraps while hauling up. And while I didn't consider the moment arm on the mast wall, I did think about a shim <wedge>. I'll go out and refine my technique and see how it goes.
winching
On the 27 that I had my girlfriend could pull the sail up almost all of the way, she would only have to winch the last 6 to 8" and she only used 2 turns on the winch. On the 30 we can't get it as high so we both use the technique of wincing it a bit and letting it out a bit to move the coils over on the winch and the winching in more. Anyway it is a common problem and the best thing is to just deal with it.
On the 27 that I had my girlfriend could pull the sail up almost all of the way, she would only have to winch the last 6 to 8" and she only used 2 turns on the winch. On the 30 we can't get it as high so we both use the technique of wincing it a bit and letting it out a bit to move the coils over on the winch and the winching in more. Anyway it is a common problem and the best thing is to just deal with it.
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