Main sail shape E25+

[Windaveski]

Sorry guys... I had to take a break from the forum. Thank you all very much, and to address your feedback...

1. the sail number matches the hull number with E25+ insignia, so it is indeed the right sail
2. goose neck is fixed to the mast and is not movable
3. topping lift was slacked and not supporting the boom while in the sloped position
4. after checking again, the main halyard was indeed not fully raised, but on the day I took the photos, was so tight that I stopped trying to raise it further. After raising it as far as it would go yesterday, some bagginess was eliminated, but the boom still sloped down at the foot.

From these observations and your feedback, I think the problem is a worn sail and possibly seized halyard sheaves. The higher the sail goes, the more resistance there is on the halyard... much more than I would expect the weight of the sail alone would produce as it goes up. Yesterday, the halyard was so tight it was singing a middle C note when I plucked it!

Before going up the mast to inspect the sheaves, does anyone have any further opinions on this matter?

Thank you and I appreciate your efforts to help address this problem!

I also have a 79 E25+. I recently got a new mainsail (made for this boat). I had the same issue with the sail jamming before it was fully raised. I found that the sheave in the masthead is further forward than the grommet in the head of the sail. This results in high forward force on the sail head which jams the slides against the mast. I confirmed this by raising the sail with the top 2 slides removed from the mast. It raised fully with no problems that way. Maybe a long shot but worth checking. I had a new headboard put on to shorten the luff about 4 inches.

 

[Windaveski]

Sorry guys... I had to take a break from the forum. Thank you all very much, and to address your feedback...

1. the sail number matches the hull number with E25+ insignia, so it is indeed the right sail
2. goose neck is fixed to the mast and is not movable
3. topping lift was slacked and not supporting the boom while in the sloped position
4. after checking again, the main halyard was indeed not fully raised, but on the day I took the photos, was so tight that I stopped trying to raise it further. After raising it as far as it would go yesterday, some bagginess was eliminated, but the boom still sloped down at the foot.

From these observations and your feedback, I think the problem is a worn sail and possibly seized halyard sheaves. The higher the sail goes, the more resistance there is on the halyard... much more than I would expect the weight of the sail alone would produce as it goes up. Yesterday, the halyard was so tight it was singing a middle C note when I plucked it!

Before going up the mast to inspect the sheaves, does anyone have any further opinions on this matter?

Thank you and I appreciate your efforts to help address this problem!

I also have a 79 E25+. I recently got a new mainsail (made for this boat). I had the same issue with the sail jamming before it was fully raised. I found that the sheave in the masthead is further forward than the grommet in the head of the sail. This results in high forward force on the sail head which jams the slides against the mast. I confirmed this by raising the sail with the top 2 slides removed from the mast. It raised fully with no problems that way. Maybe a long shot but worth checking. I had a new headboard put on to shorten the luff about 4 inches.

 

[Geoff Steel]

Thanks for your input Windaveski. I believe my sail is original 'cause it looks well used and the number matches the HIN. At this point, I'm almost sure the halyard sheave is jammed or seized at the top of the mast.

 

[debonAir]

Maybe its the camera or angle you shot at, but your mast looks raked back a lot. If you rotated the image so the water along the shore in the background was level, the mast would look even more raked. Almost like someone added a furling drum using the original forestay and didn't shorten it or something, except I don't see a furler on there. Have you measured your rig and compared it to sailboatdata.com or similar?

In my experience sticky slugs in dirty tracks cause more hoisting pain than sticky sheaves. Google around for cleaning / lubing the track and slugs. If that doesn't make a huge improvement then its time to climb the mast, or actually on a 25 you should be able to just pivot the mast down yourself right? That would make it easy to clean the track as well.

 

[Geoff Steel]

Hey Everyone, the mast finally came down and both halyard sheaves were badly corroded and seized. I took the opportunity to replace them, along with the main halyard and repainted the mast. It's all going back up tomorrow, so I'll update you again.

 

[Geoff Steel]

Everything went back together and the mast is up! Still see wrinkles at the sail slides...

 

[Geoff Steel]

 

[Christian Williams]

Got a photo showing mast and boom and sail entire?

If the gooseneck won't move down, you can rig a Cunningham downhaul. It just requires a cringle low on the luff, and a tackle with a hook to haul the luff down. That would take out some of the wrinkles, and you may already have the cringle. A Cunningham is used in racing the flatten the sail.

Hard to tell from one picture, but something looks odd in the basic cut of the main. The center of effort is too far aft, the camber, which is built into the sail by the pattern, is the wrong curve. That's characteristic of old sails ("blown out" sails). But that's a lot of speculation based on one photograph. Glad it went up!

 

[Geoff Steel]

Christian, I don't have a better pic at the monent. The sail is fairly old so I wouldn't be surprised if it is bagged out. Also, it isn't properly trimmed. You can see the jib telltales aren't streaming smoothly. My friend was on the tiller and wandered off course a bit.

 

[nquigley]

Looks like the topping lift has a bit of tension in it - no?
Is the mast completely in-column? - hard to tell from the angle in the photo - almost looks like it's not straight.