Masthead sheave on a H 18--can it handle a load?

I am working on a way to reef the H 18 and have received some good plans from several sailors. However, I was thinking of keeping it simple and going with an amsteel halyard cleated at the mast base in the reefed position. This would introduce load on the masthead sheave that is not present when hooked. Will that make the sheave crumble or break?

I was also thinking of using slides on the luff rather than the boltrope to elimate the head peeling out of the comptip. Alternately, I could replace the section of the comptip track with the aluminum section available from hobie.

Thoughts?

_________________
Dan St. Gean
'82 H 18
'96 H Wave

If the sheeve doesn't crater, that rivets holding the mast head on may give up. That's a ton of leverage offset from the vertical axis of the mast.

I had a customer in this weekend who'd cracked his masthead trying to do what you want to do.

Brian C

Why would you need to reef the main on the 18 ? It has a furling jib to get rid of a lot of sail area. You could just get a smaller cut main if you wanted to reduce sail area. We tried to reef a main on an 18HT for the Tybee 500 and it did not work very well. It is hard to get good down haul, sail shape, sheet loads with a reefed sail. We ended up unreefing the sail and it worked better. Try getting a better down haul system and better main sheet system then the stock Hobie system.

I don't think that using slides on the luff of the mainsail is going to keep it from pulling out of the comptip. The reason that the luff pulls out is because the track is only plastic, so it just spreads open when it's pulled too hard. You'd most likely be better off getting a second section of the aluminum luff track. Then figure out where the head of the sail will be when reefed and install the aluminum track in that spot.

sm

Thanks for the replies guys.

Rolling up the jib does douse a lot of sail. That helps for sure.

I'm going to be using the boat for the Texas 200 where they have some serious winds at times and I just want to be able to deal with whatever conditions I'm in rather than have an issue getting somewhere safe.

I won't try the halyard idea as I thought it might be an issue.

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Dan St. Gean
'82 H 18
'96 H Wave

Brian, does what you say only apply to a comp tip or shoud I worry about an all metal mast the same way. I have only once managed to get the sail ring to catch the hook in the two seassons I have owned my H18. I just cleated the halyard and went sailing. should I be inspecting things and trying to rethink my "proceedures".

I did not try to hard to solve the problem because I have a very tight entrance surrounded by expensive boat at dock on both sides to get back in to my launch area. I was happy to have a fast way to lower the main.

Adrio

Dude...http://www.hobiecat.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=371

How can you get any downhaul tension without the ring hooked? The 18 loves a flat sail.
Hook it up brother and discover a whole new boat

_________________
Sheet In...Max Out
www.fleet297.org
sailflatlands at gmail dot com

What Mr Eaton said... Not enough downhaul is the bane of too many sailors. Get the ring hooked, downhaul that girl and give it a go. Comptip or all Aluminum is probably irrelevant to the discussion. Leverage is the same. The Alu mast might endure a few more pounds of downhaul, but will not survive long if the rig is properly tuned.

Just say no to sail wrinkles... Unless you like being DFL.

Brian C

should I then get rid of the little flapper thing on the hook?

Yup

_________________
Sheet In...Max Out
www.fleet297.org
sailflatlands at gmail dot com

Agreed.

Brian C

dstgean,

If I remember correctly, for the Texas 200 you will be sailing the intercoastal waterway (bay side, not Gulf of Mexico). Also, you will be sailing pretty much downwind the whole trip since you are heading somewhat north-northeast.

You won't need to worry about reefing a sail. You will be more concerned with #1. Dragging daggerboards (of which I have personal experience), #2. Dragging rudders (make sure your rudders kick up, not too easily. Why? See next number.), and finally #3. Plant and seaweed build-up on the daggers and rudders (lots of build-up will cause the rudders to kick up).

If you are lucky enough to get to stay in the ICW markers, then dragging the rudders and daggers will not be too bad. But the seaweed still gets you.

Enjoy the sail down there.

Ok guys let me in on the secret JuJu for hooking the mainsail w/ a flipper thingy.

First, it is important on how the halyard is attached to the ring! A small knot is required ... I have a single half-hitch knot on a 3/16 line for my halyard, "whip" the little end/bitter-end to the halyard. When attaching the halyard to the sail you must not forget the "secret twist". Depending on which side (starb or port) of the mast your hook is on, you twist the halyard several turns so as it will want to Un-twist and naturally want to 'flip' onto the hook. For a hook on the starb side you want to put a clock-wise twist in it looking down at the ring while holding the halyard, for a port side hook you will do the opposite using a counter clock-wise twist, OK?

Secondly, Understand what the flipper thingy is for ... it is for lowwering the sail by allowing the ring to pass over the hook w/o hooking. So I hoist the sail until it is just a little below the hook, lets say maybe 1' ... I wrap the halyard around my waist so I can pull w/ my legs ... Now I CLOSE MY EYES and gently pull on the halyard until I feel the "ring" touch the underside of the hook ... at this point you only will need to raise the sail an additional 1"-2" ... FEEL THE RING/FEEL THE HOOK ... gently apply a little more pressure and the ring will slide over the hook and drop into the notch .... OMmmmmm OMmmmmm .... Its a Zen thing ....

DO NOT YANK ON IT ... as all you are doing is pulling the ring up and over the hook too far and allowing the flipper thingy to rotate back down covering the notch in the hook.

Slow down "Grasshopper" .... sailing is all about the "Karma" ... starting w/ hooking the main ... OMmmm ... OMmmm ...

I wouldn't take the flipper thingy off if you want to be able to easily drop the sail on the water ... w/o the flipper you have to over-rotate the mast to allow the ring to pass by the hook ... it can become a three-handed operation ...

I have masts w/ and w/o flipper thingy's ... I actually LIKE the flippers. Note for the final gently pull I usually have one foot on the rear-cross bar pushing w/ the halyard around my waist as stated before.

What kind of downhaul system and mainsheet block stack do you currently have on the boat?

Harry

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HarryMurphey
H-18 mag/ #9458
Fleet 54 Div 11

I agree with Dlennard. We've been stuck out in 35+ and did furl the mail and get cranked on the downhull. Travel out and don't lock the main. You should get it back on one piece.

Wyatt

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Sails off Angola, NY, Lake Erie.

Harry,

In answer to your question, I have the multiple to one downhaul (maybe 6:1, but I can't remember the exact number of pulleys but there are a lot). And we got over 4 meters of snow this winter so the boat is good and burried as is the shed where all the lines and blocks are.

I think I need to practice you Zen raising and lowereing. It sounds easy enough but the one time I managed to hook the thing it took me ten minutes to unhook it. It might be that my line is too thick and as a result my knot is too big.

The other thing I was wondering about is the different ring that has a little ring welded to the outside, is that one worth the trouble?