I'm wondering whether anyone has any possible explanations for a puzzling problem I'm having with my mainsail. The problem is this: I don't seem able to raise my mainsail fully (no puns intended there!). When I raise the sail, it seems to get stuck about 6 inches below the point at the top of the mast where it should stop. I've tried various things to solve the problem, but the real problem is that I just don't know what the problem is. I have no idea why the head of the sail won't raise to its full height. It seems that something in the sail track is preventing the sail from going any higher. Some background: I'm sailing a 1983 Oday 23. I just installed new halyards, but the problem was happening with the old ones. (In fact, I suspected the problem might be the halyards, which were very old, so I replaced them.) I do not use a winch to raise the mailsail, and I tie it off on a horn cleat at the base of the mast. Any ideas? Thanks. Bob
Question about Raising Mainsail
- Thread starter Adirondack Bob
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Us too
Bob ours will not go up all the way on its own without the following happening. We need to loosen the main sheet, loosen the vang, I am assuming your down hall is set correctly, and last but most importantly, while under tension somebody usually needs to tap the underside of the boom up and everything is than were it should be. I have tried lubricating the track at the mast, helped some but we usually need that tap under the boom to make it go. Incidently we will not be coming to Lake George this year. They have all but closed the islands to reservations. Been checking since last summer almost everyday. Found one site open on Lt. Harbor for our power boat freinds and they grabed that. Saw NY DEP or Conservation (watever their name is)promoting of all things Lake George at the Javits Boat show in January and they admitted they are severly curtaling the use of the islands. So we are moving on. Hope our quirks help you with your mainsail. Have a great season up there.
Bob ours will not go up all the way on its own without the following happening. We need to loosen the main sheet, loosen the vang, I am assuming your down hall is set correctly, and last but most importantly, while under tension somebody usually needs to tap the underside of the boom up and everything is than were it should be. I have tried lubricating the track at the mast, helped some but we usually need that tap under the boom to make it go. Incidently we will not be coming to Lake George this year. They have all but closed the islands to reservations. Been checking since last summer almost everyday. Found one site open on Lt. Harbor for our power boat freinds and they grabed that. Saw NY DEP or Conservation (watever their name is)promoting of all things Lake George at the Javits Boat show in January and they admitted they are severly curtaling the use of the islands. So we are moving on. Hope our quirks help you with your mainsail. Have a great season up there.
Mainsail problem
Bob, I'm assuming that you have sail slides, or round sail slugs on the luff of your mainsail, right? If you have round slugs, try a smaller diameter slug near the head of the sail, or try sanding the round part on this slug a little. If you have sail slides, try rounding the top flat edges just a little bit. Dremel tools come in handy for jobs like this. Also, the cringle on the head board needs to be closer to the mast track. If it isn't, your sail maker can add one. I have two crommets on my head board and that's the way it came through when I had my sails made. If you're handy, you could install it yourself. It's really not that hard to do. As a last resort, I'd take my mast down and lay it somewhere where I could run the mainsail up to that point where the problem is, and I guarantee you that I'd find this problem real quick. One of my friends had this same problem with him Mac 26 and I don't know if he ever found out what caused it before he sold it and bought his present boat. Sometimes the eye splice can't fit through the sheave opening at the top of the mast. So you may want to check this by hooking a long rope to the halyard shackle and running it all the way to the top. My Mainsail is getting old, but it still retains it's shape. I always make a point of letting off my clew outhaul whenever I lower my sail and cover it with my sail cover as often as possible, even if it's for a half hour on the hook to take Penny over in the kayak to the island to curb her. Rudy is getting me a new sail cover next week. My old cover has seen better days and is about to retire soon. Good luck guys! Joe
Bob, I'm assuming that you have sail slides, or round sail slugs on the luff of your mainsail, right? If you have round slugs, try a smaller diameter slug near the head of the sail, or try sanding the round part on this slug a little. If you have sail slides, try rounding the top flat edges just a little bit. Dremel tools come in handy for jobs like this. Also, the cringle on the head board needs to be closer to the mast track. If it isn't, your sail maker can add one. I have two crommets on my head board and that's the way it came through when I had my sails made. If you're handy, you could install it yourself. It's really not that hard to do. As a last resort, I'd take my mast down and lay it somewhere where I could run the mainsail up to that point where the problem is, and I guarantee you that I'd find this problem real quick. One of my friends had this same problem with him Mac 26 and I don't know if he ever found out what caused it before he sold it and bought his present boat. Sometimes the eye splice can't fit through the sheave opening at the top of the mast. So you may want to check this by hooking a long rope to the halyard shackle and running it all the way to the top. My Mainsail is getting old, but it still retains it's shape. I always make a point of letting off my clew outhaul whenever I lower my sail and cover it with my sail cover as often as possible, even if it's for a half hour on the hook to take Penny over in the kayak to the island to curb her. Rudy is getting me a new sail cover next week. My old cover has seen better days and is about to retire soon. Good luck guys! Joe
Responses to mainsail Problem
Joe, I do have slides as well as three grommets in the headboard of the sail, so I think the sail is close enough to the track. I'll try sanding down the top sail slides and see if that helps. I don't think the eye splice is the problem (but I forgot to check this when the mast was down for the winter). But whatever it is, it is preventing the sail from moving at all once the headboard gets to a point about 6 inches below where it should be. It almost seems like there's an obstruction in the sail track. Scott, I think my downhaul is fine, but I will play with it when I get to the boat next (this weekend, I hope). Do you have any idea why tapping your boom seems to solve your problem with the mainsail height? In my case, the boom seems to be positioned correctly. I'm sorry you won't be sailing on Lake George this year. I don't know what's up with the campsites on the lake, but it may be that high fuel costs are keeping a lot of upstate New Yorkers close to home for their vacations this year. Those campsites were always hard to get anyway, but it seems to be much worse this year. We were hoping to do some island camping with the sailboat in August, but I think we're also out of luck as far as reservations are concerned. By the way, we splashed the boat last weekend (after a *long* spring of many, many repairs) and re-christened her (complete with the obligatory prayers to Neptune and champagne). She sports a newly refinished surface (can you say "rubbing compound" and "wet-sanding"?), refinished brightwork, a new tiller, and a new name (Mistral). We're very happy to have her on the water again. Joe, your advice was instrumental in helping me with the many repairs I had to do, as was yours, Scott (as well as many others on this forum). So thanks! Bob
Joe, I do have slides as well as three grommets in the headboard of the sail, so I think the sail is close enough to the track. I'll try sanding down the top sail slides and see if that helps. I don't think the eye splice is the problem (but I forgot to check this when the mast was down for the winter). But whatever it is, it is preventing the sail from moving at all once the headboard gets to a point about 6 inches below where it should be. It almost seems like there's an obstruction in the sail track. Scott, I think my downhaul is fine, but I will play with it when I get to the boat next (this weekend, I hope). Do you have any idea why tapping your boom seems to solve your problem with the mainsail height? In my case, the boom seems to be positioned correctly. I'm sorry you won't be sailing on Lake George this year. I don't know what's up with the campsites on the lake, but it may be that high fuel costs are keeping a lot of upstate New Yorkers close to home for their vacations this year. Those campsites were always hard to get anyway, but it seems to be much worse this year. We were hoping to do some island camping with the sailboat in August, but I think we're also out of luck as far as reservations are concerned. By the way, we splashed the boat last weekend (after a *long* spring of many, many repairs) and re-christened her (complete with the obligatory prayers to Neptune and champagne). She sports a newly refinished surface (can you say "rubbing compound" and "wet-sanding"?), refinished brightwork, a new tiller, and a new name (Mistral). We're very happy to have her on the water again. Joe, your advice was instrumental in helping me with the many repairs I had to do, as was yours, Scott (as well as many others on this forum). So thanks! Bob
Enjoy your efforts now
We spent the first year working on the trailer and the second year working on the boat. It is very nice to go down to the slip and just sail now. We have a clean, safe and reliable boat at this point and it's wonderful. You will enjoy your boat much more now I am sure. Our boom at rest sits on a pin at the bottom of the track on the mast. When the mainsail is hoisted to the proper level the boom is about half way up the track. Tapping on the bottom of the boom while it is under tension persuades it into the proper position.
We spent the first year working on the trailer and the second year working on the boat. It is very nice to go down to the slip and just sail now. We have a clean, safe and reliable boat at this point and it's wonderful. You will enjoy your boat much more now I am sure. Our boom at rest sits on a pin at the bottom of the track on the mast. When the mainsail is hoisted to the proper level the boom is about half way up the track. Tapping on the bottom of the boom while it is under tension persuades it into the proper position.
Follow-up on Mainsail
Gentlemen, I'm happy to report that I think I've solved this problem--with your help. As recommended, when I hoisted the main this past weekend, I took care to make sure that the downhaul, outhaul, boom vang, and mainsheet were all loose. As I noted in a previous post, I usually have the downhaul, boom vang, and main sheet loose when hoisting the main, but yesterday I loosened the outhaul (which I had not previously done). That seems to have done the trick. I was able to raise the sail a few more inches--just enough to get the sail tight at the tack, where it had previously been too sloppy. So thank you all for the suggestions! Unfortunately, very little wind yesterday made for a very short sail. I ended up spending more time tinkering with the rigging and installing a new tiller than I did sailing. But since I spent the day working on the boat with my son, it was a very good day indeed. Bob
Gentlemen, I'm happy to report that I think I've solved this problem--with your help. As recommended, when I hoisted the main this past weekend, I took care to make sure that the downhaul, outhaul, boom vang, and mainsheet were all loose. As I noted in a previous post, I usually have the downhaul, boom vang, and main sheet loose when hoisting the main, but yesterday I loosened the outhaul (which I had not previously done). That seems to have done the trick. I was able to raise the sail a few more inches--just enough to get the sail tight at the tack, where it had previously been too sloppy. So thank you all for the suggestions! Unfortunately, very little wind yesterday made for a very short sail. I ended up spending more time tinkering with the rigging and installing a new tiller than I did sailing. But since I spent the day working on the boat with my son, it was a very good day indeed. Bob
Mainsail out haul
Bob, I'm happy to hear that you've solved this problem. My mainsail is as old as the hills, but it still has it's shape because I loosen my out haul whenever I put my cover on my main. This is just an old habit that I've gotten into and it's served me well through the years. Even if I have to stop somewhere and anchor for 20 minutes to bring my dog over in the kayak for curbing, I always relax my out haul and throw on the sail cover. I've also found that whenever I need to reef my mainsail, I need to take the last sail slide near the foot, out of the track because of the strain between the luff and the reefing along the foot of the sail. I guess that there will be good sailing days and bad days. On the bad days, I just enjoy hanging out on my boat reading a book or taking a nap. It sure beats working or hanging around the house. Joe
Bob, I'm happy to hear that you've solved this problem. My mainsail is as old as the hills, but it still has it's shape because I loosen my out haul whenever I put my cover on my main. This is just an old habit that I've gotten into and it's served me well through the years. Even if I have to stop somewhere and anchor for 20 minutes to bring my dog over in the kayak for curbing, I always relax my out haul and throw on the sail cover. I've also found that whenever I need to reef my mainsail, I need to take the last sail slide near the foot, out of the track because of the strain between the luff and the reefing along the foot of the sail. I guess that there will be good sailing days and bad days. On the bad days, I just enjoy hanging out on my boat reading a book or taking a nap. It sure beats working or hanging around the house. Joe
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