Pulling the jib up was a lot of effort.....

[Bluenose]

............in fact I had to winch it on our new to us B331. Usually they go right up the luff with little effort.

Am I missing something?

Thanks

 

[kappykaplan]

Assuming you have a furling jib, you might try Maclube on the foil.

 

[arf145]

I spray Mclube on on the luff rope of our jib/genoa of our 331 and the top half is still some very hard cranking on a winch.

 

[dziedzicmj]

you might have some dirt in the groove. The next time when the mast is down you can use a short length of proper diameter cord wrapped in a piece of cloth and run it up and down the grove. In the meantime SailKote should work.

 

[Bluenose]

Yes, could be, thanks.

 

[helmfam]

I asked my local sailmaker for a groove cleaner/lubricator and they gave me one FREE! It is a 5 x 1.5 inch piece of canvas with the bolt rope sewn into it. It has a small cringle on each end so you can attach your halyard to haul it up and another line to haul it back down. Spray it up with teflon lube spray and hoist and lower it a few times. That said, I always have to crank my jib up with the winch. Are you sure your masthead sheaves are ok?

 

[jssailem]

Cleanliness if next to Godliness.
I heard that from my Mom at bath time. It applies to you boat as well. Not necessarily easy to accomplish but a goal.
Going up the "luff" leads me to guess you have a furler. You are trying to run the sail's luff up the furler extrusions slender space that takes a Sail luff edge. If the sail is dirty or the furler extrusion is dirty, or the halyard is wrapped, or the furler head is dirty or the sheave/block at the top of the fore-stay is dirty/chafing the halyard... you get a problem raising the sail.

Easiest is to clean the sail luff and add a dry spray like McLube to the luff. Next develop way to clean the extrusion groove.

On occasion your extrusions that run up the fore-stay can become damaged. This can increase the friction on the sail making it difficult to raise or lower the sail.

Start with the simplest element and work upwards. Sail luff, Lube, Halyards...
Good Luck. Let us know how it works out.

 

[CharlieSea]

Yep, surprised me too; 2003 Hunter 356 with a B&R rig. The kicker was that the halyard runs freely without the jib attached. Couple of things: the weight of the jib, the slight off angle pull is exacerbated as the jib goes up, the friction from the 3 turns the line makes must multiply as the pull becomes more. Also remember that this is a 1:1 purchase with friction decreasing that advantage. The jib on the boat is 40 lbs. By the way the main is just as difficult. The mast was down 1.5 years ago and all the blocks, jib and inmast furling extrusions were fine. New sails; UK sailmaker said it was normal.

 

[Bluenose]

Thank you, all very good things to look for.

 

[jssailem]

@CharlieSea It sure helps to take the mast down and look at the various components that make up your mast and rigging.
While new sails are stiffer and they can be a bit full in the furler extrusion, they should not be hard to raise or lower. If they are there is something else contributing to the friction.

I was raising my main the other day. This is an old sail with brass lugs on a stainless mast track. I was not into the wind so the sail, while not full did have a bit of wind pressure. All was going well until it wasn't. I lowered it a few feet and then tried to raise it. Finally I got tired of trying the same thing expecting different results, and moved a bit back toward the cockpit. I looked up and right there were the sail was leaning a bit toward the spreader, the batten had flipped reverse and was stuck between the spreader and the stay. No wonder it would not go up... I pulled the sail down 10 feet. straightened the leach and zoom the sail went up to the mast head. No windlass or winch needed. Just a sailor pulling down on the halyard the way nature intended.

 

[CharlieSea]

Thanks John,

Both of the sails have the luff bead tape for furler extrusions. It does not slide as easily as slugs on a track. The luff bead tape is a fairly snug fit so it does cause a lot of friction. The mast was down because it came by truck from Massachusetts.

 

[GorillaToast]

On occasion your extrusions that run up the fore-stay can become damaged. This can increase the friction on the sail making it difficult to raise or lower the sail.

Start with the simplest element and work upwards. Sail luff, Lube, Halyards...
Good Luck. Let us know how it works out.

I've got one spot about 2/3 of the way up that is slightly pinched. It's a bear to get past it, but if I get a good running start I can muscle it by. I have 2 grooves in my foils, but I can never remember which is the bad one. This year I chose poorly.

I know, I know... X with a sharpie on the bad side

 

[Vegas]

Sounds like an issue I had with my previous boat, a 38s5. Turned out the jib sheave on the masthead had worn and barely turned. It was several years ago but if I remember right, I replaced the original sheave with one made of Delrin.

 

[Kings Gambit]

Sometimes a tiny bit of the sail material along the tape going up in the groove can get pulled into it and bind. You may try to winch it it beyond that point, but that's BAD!! It's better to pull the sail back down from that point and carefully feed the tape so no sail material gets pinched in. Unfortunately, once this happens the sail becomes "distorted" slightly at that spot, making it likely to happen there again and again, etc. Also, if you do not fix it going up, the sail will not come down easily. This also can be BAD if your furler goes kaput and you need to get the sail down fast, etc.

Unfurl the sail and sight along the luff up the foil, both sides. You can see where any sail materials has pinched into the groove. That narrow smooth space between the tape rope and the main part of the sail essentially disappears where it is pinched. Use binoculars if necessary.

 

[Gunni]

You likely have furling swivel bushing bearings rather than ball or roller bearings. Check the condition of the swivel bushings and lubricate them with sailkote. Worn out of round they bind on the furler foil under the load of your sail being hoisted. Many owners neglect this important inspection point. Avoid gunking up your foil bolt-rope slot with ‘miracle’ oil, it attracts dirt.

 

[SG]

As Gunni said, be careful what you add to the mix. I use lubricants like McLube (expensive, but great) or Elmer's spray Teflon (inexpensive, from hardware stores) both have no petrochemical or oil "carrier". They are "dry" and won't collect grit or stain fabric. When in doubt, spray some I'm a paper towel or your fingers. Don't put the other stuff on the boat and "Snowwhite can't get pricked".

• As for the hoist issues... As others have said, could be a bunch of things, or a combination of
  • Halyard twist or mislead inside mast.
  • Masthead sheave
  • Lead fitting (sometimes near head of mast) to avoid halyard wraps with roller furling
  • Dirty track
  • Dirty or deformed rope luff
  • Tired arms and back ;^)))

 

[cymeyer]

Assuming you have a furling jib, you might try Maclube on the foil.

We had that issue with our old sails and put a smaller luff tape bead on new sails. They now work great.
I also heard that the furler is not one piece and if there is a kink in the furler, that can cause an issue.