Masthead sheaves frozen.

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seabreeone

Member I
My Ericson 35-2 . Both my main and jib sheaves are frozen solid making it almost impossible to raise the main. Jib is on roller furling when I took jib sail down to clean it. It also was very hard to raise. I had one guy go up the mast and he sprayed pb blaster on sheaves and could brake them loose. He claims the way masthead is set up he can not pop out the pins and replace the sheaves like you can on a Catalina? He said I will have to take down mast to replace or free up sheaves? Got a quote from shipyard to pull mast $1900 to $3000.00 With mast lay days. Outrages to free up or replace 4 sheaves.
I was thinking maybe go up with a heat gun or small torch heat them up and try to free them. I don't know. Has anybody had this type of issue? How did you free them up? Thanks..
 
T

Todd charchenko

Member II
I had to free up my sheaves I however did it when my mast was down but I will be going up to replace them this summer and I plan to use my Main halyard to climb my spin as a Saftey and pull my Jib sheaves then use the jib to replace my main
 
Afrakes

Afrakes

Sustaining Member
Do yourself a favor and skip the heat gun and torch idea. That's not going to get the job done. Next time you send someone up your mast have them take pictures so you know how things are arranged up there. Depending on the mast head configuration you may have to remove additional items to access the sheaves. The shafts that the sheaves rotate on may be worn to the point that they have to be replaced as well. Sorry, no easy answers. How old is the boat? Do you know the manufacturer of the mast?
 
Slick470

Slick470

Member III
If your masthead is anything like ours, the rigger is correct, you may have to remove a number of parts on the mast head to get the headsail sheaves out of the mast to replace them. Depending on how long it has been since the fasteners holding those parts in place have been removed, it may be next to impossible to get them out while the mast is up. Plus there is the added risk of loosing parts to a masthead made by a company that is no longer in business.

Yeah, it's expensive, but maybe you can look into rolling several projects into one so you can take advantage of the mast being down. How old is your standing rigging? Do your chain plates need a re-bed? These are things that are a lot easier to do with the mast down. Sometimes they have to be done with the mast down.
 
Dave N

Dave N

Member III
seabreeone said:
My Ericson 35-2 . Both my main and jib sheaves are frozen solid making it almost impossible to raise the main. Jib is on roller furling when I took jib sail down to clean it. It also was very hard to raise. I had one guy go up the mast and he sprayed pb blaster on sheaves and could brake them loose. He claims the way masthead is set up he can not pop out the pins and replace the sheaves like you can on a Catalina? He said I will have to take down mast to replace or free up sheaves? Got a quote from shipyard to pull mast $1900 to $3000.00 With mast lay days. Outrages to free up or replace 4 sheaves.
I was thinking maybe go up with a heat gun or small torch heat them up and try to free them. I don't know. Has anybody had this type of issue? How did you free them up? Thanks..
Click to expand...
Get another quote, that sounds outrageous. We have our mast(keel stepped) pulled every year to store indoors for the winter. I remove all cotter pins, sails, vang and boom before giving them the boat. We pay an hourly labor rate. It takes 2/3 guys a couple(2) hours.
 
S

seabreeone

Member I
Thank you all for your excellent advice . You confirmed what I did not want to do or hear. Pull the mast. However since it looks like I must pull it. I will repaint and rewire it? I am in a dilemma. I am 62 I have owned a sail boat since I was 17 . Bought one to live on and go to college, He in So Cal. I hate to say this but rather then spend the money I may sell my favorite boat of all 5+ sail boats that I have owned .The 35-2. Not the fastest not the best. I love it. My last trip to San Diego. I got so many complements on my yacht and how well it looked. It was a nice feeling. Many thought now through my old mind. Once more. Thank you all my friends for your great advice. Happy sailing...Rick
 
F

Frank Langer

1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
seabreeone said:
Thank you all for your excellent advice . You confirmed what I did not want to do or hear. Pull the mast. However since it looks like I must pull it. I will repaint and rewire it? I am in a dilemma. I am 62 I have owned a sail boat since I was 17 . Bought one to live on and go to college, He in So Cal. I hate to say this but rather then spend the money I may sell my favorite boat of all 5+ sail boats that I have owned .The 35-2. Not the fastest not the best. I love it. My last trip to San Diego. I got so many complements on my yacht and how well it looked. It was a nice feeling. Many thought now through my old mind. Once more. Thank you all my friends for your great advice. Happy sailing...Rick
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Hi Rick,
When you initially posted your question about the frozen sheaves, you sounded like you really wanted to fix them, probably so you could go sailing again. Dropping the mast to fix the sheaves, maybe rewire and paint the mast (the latter may be optional), is a project, but certainly doable, and not as expensive as you might think, especially if you can find a friend or two to help with rewiring and perhaps painting.

Unless you have significant health issues, being 62 is no issue--I'm almost 70 and still do most of my own work on the boat, even though I have no formal training in mechanical stuff. Many others on this site are also between 60 - 80 years old and still sailing, repairing, posting here, etc.

While selling your boat may be the right decision for you, I would certainly not do it just because you have this mast project to solve! Just my thoughts....

Frank
 
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J

jstaff

Member I
Some years back I replaced the sheaves on my Ericson 27. My sheaves were worn and a hallard would jam. I had sheaves made by Zephyrwerks, https://www.zephyrwerks.com/

Their work is excellent.

I took advantage of having the mast out to install larger diameter pins that Zephyrwerks supplied as well. I may have found them to be expensive when I ordered the pieces, but when I saw the remarkable workmanship I was more than satisfied.
 
kapnkd

kapnkd

kapnkd
seabreeone said:
My Ericson 35-2 . Both my main and jib sheaves are frozen solid making it almost impossible to raise the main. Jib is on roller furling when I took jib sail down to clean it. It also was very hard to raise. I had one guy go up the mast and he sprayed pb blaster on sheaves and could brake them loose. He claims the way masthead is set up he can not pop out the pins and replace the sheaves like you can on a Catalina? He said I will have to take down mast to replace or free up sheaves? Got a quote from shipyard to pull mast $1900 to $3000.00 With mast lay days. Outrages to free up or replace 4 sheaves.
I was thinking maybe go up with a heat gun or small torch heat them up and try to free them. I don't know. Has anybody had this type of issue? How did you free them up? Thanks..
Click to expand...
Not sure what year your E35-2 is but our 73 E-32 had phenolic resin sheaves which I fear would only cause you more problems by applying extreme heat to them.

We’re lucky to belong to a yacht club up North where we, with a gin pole, remove our own masts in the fall for winter storage.

(We’ve replaced both our sheaves years ago as one did hang up and the SS cut a flat spot on one which made it hang up.)

...Hard to comprehend the outrageous price they wish to charge you!!! Definitely “shop around”!!
 
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