Reef "pill" on halyard jamming at the top of the mast.

Do I need to shave it into a bullet shape?

It's coming to a hard stop. Used to be difficult and now it's impossible.

Slides thru no problem without a sail attached.

Keep a bit of tension on the halyard while lowering. Slack will allow the bead to hit the track. Tension helps it stand clear.

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Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

This problem occurs when raising the sail whether or not the pill is inside or outside the track. Older mast w single sheave that turns easy.

If I understand your problem correctly, it could be that the nicopress fitting ("pill") is catching on the halyard hook....common problem on older, all aluminum masts. Try standing further forward (near the bow) while raising the main. Once fully raised (fittings clear of hook), walk the halyard back toward the mast (maintaining downward tension so it doesn't slip) and engage the fitting under the hook.

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Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16

If one is inside the track, hoist the halyard like a flag halyard... tie in a continuous loop. get the beads up and over the top. As noted, if the beads are catching on the hook you need to stand further away from the mast to clear them. When lowering, keep tension on both the lines as the beads go over the top and then clear the mast track opening at the top. They both need to be outside the luff track. If you just let the rope go when lowering, the beads may catch on the track opening. With a little tension on the halyard, they should clear that easily.

Video of what is happening would help too.

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Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Sometimes, the metal over the top of the sheeve gets bent from hitting something, that cuts down on the amount of clearance for the nicropress sleeve. Play with it, with the mast down, and you should be able to see the problem. If it's bent like I'm talking about, it's no worry to grind out the offending bent part.

My reef bead also gets stuck in the mast track when lowering the main sail.

Since the reef is not used much any more, is there any easy way of removing (or tapering) the reef bead without damaging the wire part of the halyard? That section of the main halyard only has some tension on it during the raising or lowering of the main sail.

To solve this problem, I filed down this reef bead so it could easily pass thru the mast's luff track. What is interesting is that over many years of the reef bead being inside of the mast track, the copper bead had corroded some of the aluminum luff track.

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Tim
84 H16
82 H16
87 H14T
Tortola Sails: 115222
Blue Prism Sails: 88863
Clearwater, FL

Just keep a little tension on the halyard until that bead gets up and over the mast head, then past the top of the track. It works.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

While raising the main, my reef bead appears to be going into the sail track about 3/4 of the way up and then jamming before going over the top of the mast.

The only way to get the reef bead out is to lower the main, attach a line to the halyard and then raise the halyard. The reef bead then comes out at the top.

This did not happen when I last used the mast and I don't believe the mast has been dropped.

Has anyone ever encountered this?

Next step is to lower the mast and inspect.

There should be no way for the bead to enter the track other than from the top when the sail was last lowered.

Keep constant tension on the halyard to keep the wire in-column outside the track.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)