[C320-list] Handling the mainsail

[Jeffrey Hare]

Hi,

   I think the Mast step turning blocks are a bit small for this
application.  The larger size like used on the Garhaurer adjustable genoa
cars would be much better I think.

   We lube the track with a little diluted dish soap before raising the
main.  The difference will astound you.

   We use ~1 tablespoon of soap to ~1/2 cup of water and just dump it into
the track above the top sail slug.  I dump it in when I'm putting on the
halyard and removing the sail ties.  Don't need very much and the difference
is amazing.

   I can hoist the main to the top from the cockpit with relative ease
without the winch, and it falls down the track very easily when dropping the
main.  Although I do tend to raise it the last foot and tension it with the
winch so that I don't need to "break a sweat".  

   Without the soap trick, I can only get the main up part of the way up
from the cockpit (with a lot of effort) before resorting to the winch.

   I haven't found that SailKote works nearly as well, and is expensive.  I
use it liberally on my blocks however.

Try it once then comment.

-JeffH

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Burti [mailto:cburti at yahoo.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 3:53 PM
To: C320-List
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Handling the mainsail

I understand that you've tried to fix things, but I
still suspect something more is wrong thant the
alignment of the stopper. I have been makeing
adjustments and even though I still have some excess
friction from an oversized halyard ( I got a deal on a
pre-spliced 7/16" halyard. Cheaper with the hardware
and splice than the bare rope in 3/8"...never again.)
it isn't as hard as all that to raise. In fact, I
don't even use thae winch until the last foot or so to
tighten the luff.

Sailcoat on the slides, blocks on the reef, fine
tuning the slug gate and cleaning all of the sheaves
has made a huge difference. I used to start with the
winch at the top spreader.

--- Irv Grunes <igrunes at comcast.net> wrote:

> We too used to crank our guts out to raise the main.
>

Chris Burti
"Commitment"
Catalina 320, #867, 
Farmville, NC

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