Furling the Mainsail

 

There are two additional things I did to make furling the main easier and faster in my usual crisis situations. The first is to replace the topping lift (fixed) with an adjustable topping lift. The mainsail is pretty finicky about rolling up. Because of the bolt rope, it will want to spiral toward the mast (bad) or away from the mast (good). Spiraling toward the mast creates a mess, usually binding up as you try to crank. If you consider the geometries, it would be better for the boom to be raised slightly at the aft end, causing the spiral to always go away from the mast. For this reason, I put a mark (sewed whipping twine through the line) on the topping lift where (after experimentation) the sail winds up the best. The topping lift I added is the line in this picture closest to you. It is exiting at the very top of the mast above the main halyard (about 6 inches below).

 

To keep the topping lift from jumping of of the exposed sheave at the top of the mast, I used a shackle. I bent the shackle to have the same opening and angle as the mast cross section, then clamped it to the mast and drilled a straight hole through the hole assembly. I put a SS bolt (rounded off the head) through it with a lock nut. This retaining assembly is loose, but due to the angle of the shackle mating with the sides of the mast, it can't move very much.

 

The other thing I did was to rearrange the exit of the main halyard. First, it was very difficult to pull DOWN on the halyard while messing with the roller furling handle, etc. So I put an exit block in the base of the mast and had the halyard exit there. This way you can stand up (or kneel, etc.) and pull UP on the halyard.

 

Next, I installed a "pause" feature in the form of a cam cleat in-line with the main halyard's horn cleat. Prior to this, in order to partially roll up the main, you had to tie the halyard off, then try to find those holes in the boom stem, then re-adjust the halyard, etc., etc. All the while the wind in blowing against the remaining sail that is up, causing the boom to unroll......

 

This way, while furling or unfurling the main halyard can be temporarily clipped into the camcleat. This also is handy when locking down the halyard, before tying it off to the horn cleat. The horn cleat is new, below the boom. I left the oiriginal one there and use that one for the adjustable topping lift.

 

 

 

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