Mainsail Downhaul System

[phil kelly]

I,ve recently changed the mainsail setup on my 26x from a Profurl inboom reefing system which was a pain in the thingy because it was far too heavy for the boat although had some advantage in reefing and pulling the sail down ( when it didn,t get stuck halfway ) and I didn,t have to go up top to do this.
I,ve now had a more conventional system fitted with the usual main halyard and the sail has slugs rather than the original bolt rope within the mast groove.
I was told that on releasing the halyard the sail would come down under it,s own weight- this is not the case except when there is practically no wind at all even when heading into the wind.
Therefore it seems that I need some sort of line system led back to the cockpit to enable the sail to be pulled down without having to go up top and I was wondering if anybody had set up this type of system and how they did it. I believe it may be called a downhaul but I may be wrong
All advice/suggestions would be appreciated.
Phil, UK

[J.Teixeira]

Hi

Main Sails on slugs in all boats I know off do not always come down perfectly.

One possible solution (if you are single handed) is to fit a line opposite to the halyard from the cockpit to the mast foot and up to the sail V tying it to the same point of the halyard.

Jose

[Wind Chime]

I have a downhaul line run from the cockpit (through blocks and a deck organizer) and the line tied to the top sail slug.

I advise NOT to tie it to the Mainsail Halyard or the Top of Headboard. When pulling on the downhaul, this will bend and stress the headboard in the wrong direction.

Instead: Tie it to the top slug.

[restless]

make sure you get yourself a little slug stopper widget or better still a slug gate!
Are your lines led aft for the halyard? a main downhaul is as simple as jose says... tie it to the top slug and you can feed it through the bail on the mast foot and take it back to the cockpit. Personally I'm trying to have the least number of ropes possible to keep thigs simple. If you have a catchbag or stackpack n lazyjacks you'll still need to go up top to close the bag up. I've founf that I can drop the main in seconds and have it zipped in a jiffy!

[J.Teixeira]

Hi

A Few interesting links about sail handling

http://www.videos.sailingcourse.com/flaking_wmv1.htm

http://www.sailingusa.info/points_of_sail.htm

http://www.sailingusa.info/weather_and_ ... he%20sails

http://www.sailingusa.info is a real treasure...

Note: About the "down halyard" knot on the sail top ring it must pass between the sail and the mast (below the last slug)
A 5 or 6 mm line is better.
But I don't use this anymore because since I have the reefing system I use it to pull the sail if she does not come down...

Cheers

Jose

[parrothead]

SailKote should do the trick. If you're in a slip or mast-up storage, start by simply spraying the sail slugs. If your mast is down, you can coat [Kote?] the inside of the mast groove.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/3 ... AA300_.jpg

[c130king]

I have exactly what you are talking about.

My halyard is about 72' long. One end is tied to the top of the head board on the main and then up to the block on top of the mast...then down to the base of the mast and through a few turning blocks to take it out to the starboard side about 18" and then back to the cockpit...there is goes through a jam-cleat and then with about 2' of line making a loop it goes back towards the mast...no cleat for the down-haul side but it goes back to a second turning block at the 18" to starboard and then through a second turning block at the base of the mast...and then up to the head board of the main but this time I tie a bowline around the top-most sail slug. That is all one line.

Raise the main from the cockpit and then jam the halyard into the jam-cleat and then tie off the loop around a horn cleat mounted at the front of the cockpit. To lower the main I untie from the horn-cleat and lift it out of the jam-cleat and then let it fall. But it doesn't just fall so I pull on the down-haul side of the line (I call it the "haul down" to differentiate it from a true "down-haul")...and the main falls right down on the mast in between the lazy jacks just as pretty as you please. Works perfectly most of the time...I will say 90% or better. The issue is occassionally the halyard/haul-down line running up the mast will get caught on the end of the bolt holding the mast hound for the fore-stay. And sometimes I have to go up on deck to give the line a "flip" to pop it off the bolt. And sometimes the battens will hang on the junctions of the lazy jacks on the way up but this is an easy fix from the cockpit...just let the sail drop a foot or two...wait for the wind over the bow to blow the leech back to the middle of the lazy jacks and then haul it up. Hardly worth mentioning as a problem.

You can see the main come down in this video. It was shot from the dock by my daughter and she is not very steady but you can see that I slide up the starboard seat to quickly/easily lower the main right into the LJ's.

I didn't create this...it was done by the Original Owner but I love it for single-handing.

Cheers,
Jim
Sailing on König

[c130king]

A couple of pics.



Above you can see the blue halyard/haul-down line on the starboard side. I tie the loop around the horn cleat when the main is up. Whether up or down...because it is a continuous loop...the blue loop in the cockpit stays the same length. Never have an issue with lots of line in the cockpit when the main is up.



Here is a pic of one of my sets of double blocks. The Original owner just screwed them into the fiberglass deck and the one eventually pulled out. I just recently pulled out all the foam from inside the cabin and drilled a hole all the way through the deck and used bolts/washers/nuts to secure these blocks...works great now.



And here is a bit of a close-up of the turning blocks. The middle of the blue line is in the cockpit...two foot loop. The lines going up one end...the halyard...goes through the turning block at the top of the mast and down to the top of the main. The other line is the haul-down and is tied around the top-most sail slug.

Hope these pics help you understand. Let me know if you have any ???'s

Jim

[phil kelly]

Thanks Jim, I'm seriously looking at your setup, can't see why it would'nt work on my X---thanks for the clear photo's
Phil

[Scott]

A small line similar to a furler line run through a block at the base will suffice. As stated earlier, dont tie to the head, just the top slug. As well weave it in and out of the slugs. This would keep it from flying free and getting tangled.

[Catigale]

Jim - I love your continuous loop reef setup. If my hauldown is long enough (a common issue in my house) Im going to try adapt mine to the loop concept - right now I do get bad cockpit spaghetti when reefed.

[phoenixtoohot]

Works perfectly most of the time...I will say 90% or better. The issue is occassionally the halyard/haul-down line running up the mast will get caught on the end of the bolt holding the mast hound for the fore-stay. And sometimes I have to go up on deck to give the line a "flip" to pop it off the bolt.
Cheers, Jim Sailing on König

I have copied Jim's, loop halyard setup and I'm having the problem of the halyard snagging on the upper mast hound bolt. I think the halyard actually flips over to the port side of the mast. I have to go up on deck to flip it back over.

Seems like someone had other fixes to the snagging problem .. maybe a fairlead (or snap eye) near the upper mast hound, or something else. Any suggestions?

[Mac26Mpaul]

been thinking about a led aft halyard setup and was thinking of the Harken 140 on the mast that others have done, and a thin downhaul line on a seperate block at the base of the mast. The two reasons I like the Harken 140 idea are first, because you can set the halyard from the cockpit OR from up on deck when you are putting a reef in, and secondly because I am concerned about the rotating mast binding up with any of these other methods, which some guys have reported.

However the loop method is appealing with less hassle involved. Jim, does the mast swing freely, even in lighter air with your loop method?