dunebugmi wrote:
We discussed lowering the sail. It is easier than raising, but still stops and sticks in some sections.
If it stops and sticks going down, it is binding somewhere. Especially if it is binding in the same place.
dunebugmi wrote:
I have been thinking about putting the mast on the ground, and running the sail's lower cord up the mast track, and then running the luff cord through the boom track.
I'd flip the boat on its side with the mast up. That way the sail track will be off the ground. Personally I'd grab the head of the sail, get it into the slot, and start walking backwards down the mast, pulling on the head of the sail. As soon as it binds, I'd look both at the track where the head of the sail is, and where the sail is entering the track (the material could be bunching, increasing the diameter of the bolt rope.
dunebugmi wrote:
There is one other hobie in the area. I don't know who they are, but maybe I could cold knock on their door and ask for help.
CRANNE took over the Maine catamaran scene. It is not terribly active, but the contact info on this page --
http://cranne.org/Home/Contact -- might work. I'm outside of Concord, NH, and Fleet 448 is down in Rhode Island.
jclarkdawe wrote:
It would be nice to find someone with some experience to see what's going on. One question of you that I don't think has been asked is how well does the sail come down? Is it stubborn about coming down as well as going up? If it hates coming down as much as it does going up, it's probably binding somewhere.
Way to check that the track isn't bent somewhere is take a bolt and grind it down so that it slides into the track at the base. Slide it up the track and see whether it binds or becomes lose. The track should be a relatively constant gap without change. Way to check the sail is watch as it feeds in and see whether there are areas that bunch. Sometimes threads break and material will gather.
Have you tried hooking the nub with no sail on the halyard? It's worth some practice to get the feel of the process without the complication of the sail.
I have two sails and one of mine hates having the lower gooseneck inserted into the mast. I end up in the same situation that you do. A large screwdriver inserted through the gooseneck gives me something to grab. Tightening the mainsheet will sometimes enable the downhaul to pull it down. Worse case scenario is some days the gooseneck just barely goes in and the downhaul will hold it in place. Worst case scenario I can think of (which I've never had to do) is take one of those zip ties and wrap it through the gooseneck and around the mast and tighten.
Before you cut your sail, find someone who can come look at this. I don't know where you're located, but usually there's someone close by.
Jim Clark-Dawe