main difficult to raise

[Tony Benoit]

After a very late start this season, I'm finally sailing.  This year, the main is very difficult to raise.  The easiest way seems to be for me to lift the sail with some difficulty by pulling the halyard right at the mast, then taking the slack out at the rope clutch.  This maneuver is tough to do alone.

If I pull from the cockpit, I need to use the winch almost at once.  Last season, I could pull the sail most of the way up by hand and just winch it taut.  Looking up the mast, I see that the main halyard goes into the mast slightly to starboard.  Is the sheave offset?

None of the blocks seems particularly hard to turn.  The sail doesn't seem to be snagging or binding; it's just consistently hard to pull up.

I remember a post on this subject some time ago, but I can't find it now.

Tony Benoit
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Helen C
'89 #903
Wing/Std

[SteveLyle]

Tony,

The masthead fitting handles 2 halyards fwd, and 2 aft, port and stbd for each.  Of course, you only need one aft, for the main, and on my boat the main halyard was on the starboard sheave.

Several things to try.  Is it easier to haul the halyard from the mast - that takes several blocks out of the equation, and may lead you to the one that's a problem.  You can try a dry lubircant (Sail Kote?) on the sail slugs as well.

It once occurred to me when I philosophised on the main being harder to raise, that maybe it wasn't any harder, but I was getting weaker.  But maybe that's just me...

This has been a common subject - try searching on "main halyard difficult...".

Steve

[Ron Hill]

Tony : If you haven't changed to new Ball Bearing blocks at the base of the mast and BB deck organizers, it's a great investment!  Call Garhauer Marine they will fix you up at a nominal cost.  
You also should order some BB halyard sheaves for the top of the mast.  That way when you pull your mast you'll have them on hand.
As Steve mentioned, West Marine has some spray Teflon in an alcohol base (important so it doesn't stain the sail & collect dirt like the oil base).  That will help the slugs slide up and down the mast much easier.  

[John Gardner]

It would be worth checking the sheave at the top of the mast by taking one part of the main halyard in each hand and pulling it from one hand to the other to make sure it runs freely.  If not, there's your problem.  If it's free, then somewhere in all the other sheaves, or possibly the mast track is your problem.

[tstrand]

If the masthead sheave, turning block and deck organizer seem okay then it's a cheap experiment to try SailKote. We sprayed the entire track as well as each slug. Now the main raises easily and comes down like a rock.