Is there something wrong with this new-to-me Getaway mast?

Just purchased this 2002 Getaway, bought some new sails, and I'm unable to raise the mainsail. It always gets stuck in the transition between the plastic luff track and this aluminum piece.

Here's where it gets stuck, as shown with me raising the mainsail on land:



That aluminum piece slides. As the mainsail comes up, the luff catches the aluminum piece and pushes it up. It won't go into the track on its own.

The gap you see is ~ 0.5". Since the aluminum piece slides, the gap is either as shown, or at the top of the mast.

Now, on land, I can manually feed the luff through the track and get it to the top:



I'm wondering if past owners have done something odd. The gap seems wrong. Also, I'm not sure what this aluminum piece is from. Current model comptips appear to just have a plastic luff track w/out the aluminum piece.

Does anyone recognize this problem, perhaps from older boats?

Thanks!

I think I found a workaround that will do, but haven't tested it on the water with wind, yet.

I swapped the position of the plastic luff track and the aluminum piece so that the plastic luff track is now on top. The sail luff seems to transition easier if it goes from metal lower mast => aluminum track => plastic luff track.

To fill the gap and prevent the luff tracks from slipping around, I stuck a hose clamp at the top of the mast:



I still can't piece together the history here. As far as I can tell, the aluminum piece is the "Luff Track Update", but I don't think that was ever standard on a Getaway.

I'm hoping the plastic luff track is able to hold the sail under wind, and that the aluminum piece at the top was unnecessary.

Some of the Hobie models use an aluminum section of track up at the top of the comptip to keep the mainsail bolt rope from pulling out under load. I’m not sure if that’s the case for the Getaway. I am surprised to see the track is not black, usually they are anodized black.

Anyway, I think you just need to come up with a way to hold the track down. I would experiment using one or two hose clamps around the mast between the aluminum track and the mast head to act as a stopper so the track can’t slide up. Also check that the opening at the bottom of the aluminum track aligns with the bolt rope opening in the plastic section. You can carefully bend the bottom of the aluminum track a little if needed to make sure everything is aligned.

sm