lost main halyard on furling mast

[Jim Hardesty]

I've been screwing up more and more. This time I lost the main halyard down the mast on my 2001 roller furling main.    Couldn't get any thing to feed over the pulley at the mast head without going down the sail furling area.  Tried weights then bicycle chain had no luck.  Tried to remove the top plate to see what was going on but couldn't get it off.  My next step is to unstep the mast and work on it from the ground.  
Can anyone save me form having to do that?  Has anyone had the same problem?  Any information would be a help.

Jim

[Ron Hill]

Jim : The mast head diagram for a MKII that Catalina sent me shows the same 4 sheave configuration as the earlier regular masts. 
It sounds like you are going to have to get a MKII roller furling main owner to answer, because I suspect that the in-the-mast furling mast head is different!?!

From your post?? is the lost halyard inside of the mast or has it fallen on to the deck on the outside?

A few thoughts

[Mike and Joanne Stimmler]

You might also check with a local rigger if there is one near you. Sometimes they know a few tricks.

Mike

[Jim Hardesty]

Ron,
The halyard fell down into the mast.  The knot at the swivel slipped, a halyard hitch that I must have made wrong.  In hind sight should not have used an unfamilar knot with out having instructions in front of me.  The sail was a couple of inches from a full lift.
Jim

[Ron Hill]

Jim : Before you pull the mast here's what I'd try.
Talk to a near by Catalina Dealers yard guy.  Find out why you can't just slide a weight or bicycle chain on a thin line over the top of that sheave and let it fall down inside so you can fish it out of the entrance port on the mast?
A local rigger may or may-not be able to answer that question.

You can not beat a bowline with a black wire tie around the bitter end and the running line!!  That wire tie guarantees that the knot will not just untie itself. 

A few thoughts

[Jim Hardesty]

All is well.    Got my halyard rerun.    The main halyard runs over two pulleys at the mast head.  The one that you can see plus another forward and lower that's all but impossible to see.  The second pulley guides the halyard past the furling pocket of the mast.  Used about eight inches of bicycle chain feed it through about eight inches of thin plastic tubing that the chain just fit through.  Put the tube with the chain in it over the aft pulley far enough to feed over the second pulley then pushed the chain through the tube and over both pulleys with a screw driver.  Then the bicycle chain and tracer line feed down the mast with no problems.
Realy looking forward to my first sail of the season.  Better late then never.
Jim