MacGregorSailors.com

Hi
I think my boat may have a piece missing.
To raise the main sail on my 26x I have to stand on the cabin roof and pull on the halyard whilst my son feeds the sail into the mast chanel. I then tie the halyard of the best I can and return to the safety of the cockpit. I have a clamp device on the roof near the winch on the right hand side but I do not know what this is for.
I cannot find in the insttuctions I received with the boat where this lanyard goes to. There is a hook at the bottom of the mast but when I tried to feed my halyard through it it kept on jamming.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

David

I have a 99 26X, and to raise the main, I have to do it also standing in front of the mast (neither the first owner nor I set the main to be raised from the cockpit: one of the mods that goes in my head to do this next winter). In my case, I have a cleat in every side of the mast to fix the halyards once the main is raised (starboard side), or as I have the CDI, when the spi is raised (port side).

I hope it helps.

David, there are manuals online for your boat at this link

http://macgregorsailors.com/manuals/index.php

The cam cleat near the winch is for the headsail (jib) sheets.

The hook on the mast is for reefing the mainsail.

What you are doing is what is required to raise the mainsail, with a completely stock setup. Many people have, of course, modified the stock setup to suit their needs. Top modifications that would address raising the main are:

- Sail slugs
- Lines led aft

You can search on these terms in this board and find hours of reading...

If the "clamp device" is a rope clutch and you have some blocks (like a pulley) at the base of the mast and on the deck, then perhaps your main halyard can be led aft (to the cockpit). But I doubt this is too useful if you don't have sail slugs on your mainsail. This is because you would still need someone up on deck near the mast to feed the sail in and out of the mast track.

the groove inlet mouth in the mast is made automatic by installing a Spinlock mainsail feeder at the bottom of the inlet mouth. A bit pricey.....$59.99 in West Marine 2006 Master Catalog at page 891.... but allows one person alone to easily hoist a slugless mainsail, by eliminating the tendency of the luff rope to jamb in the narrow upper end of the inlet mouth.
Had one on my old 26D for years, but stupidly failed to remove it when I sold the D, so had to buy another for my 26X.
Ron

Assuming this is a "real" question and not a troll...
It is customary and a reasonable expectation to have the dealer who sold you the boat if new, or the previous owner if the craft is used, to at least spend a few hours or so showing you how to rig, launch, and sail the boat if it's necessary. These are fairly simply constructed boats but there are a number of bits to fit together and key points you don't want to learn by experience if you are new to sailing.
This is part of the service that newbies who buy a new boat are buying. A dealer who does this goes a long way toward shortening the newbie learning curve and in return should, and most likely will, earn repeat business. These are not lawnmowers.
Sometimes you have a powerboat broker with a second hand boat, so there are plenty of instances where the guy selling doesn't know anything either. But were I a new sailor, I wouldn't buy a new boat from some guy who couldn't demonstrate how to rig it and agree to go for a sail.
There are a series of operations that need to be done to get in the water if trailered, get underway and get back to dock. Simply reading about them is a poor substitute for doing them. A few items you want on board as well. The Mac manual is pretty good as a primer, but no substitute for seeing these things done and then doing them yourself.
Recommend you also find someone who sails who can help if there is no dealer who can. You'll learn much faster and more safely.
Family members stranded with you on the first trip out aren't always keen to go out again.

When I bought the boat I had 3 hours with the previous owner. but as the season progresses I have started to ask myself questions, like - am I doing this right? Is there a better way to do a certain operation? having looked around the marina and seeing all these halyards leading to the cockpit I wondered if it is possible to do the same on a Mac. Obviously not without buying more equipment, so I will carry on as before, that is if I ever get home from Finland tomorrow after the security alert in the UK.
Oh by the way what is a "TROLL", you have a lot of abreviations that us "foreigners" cannot understand!!!

Lately, there have been an unusual amount of people asking questions in order to provoke controversy, rather than to just trying to get answers. Someone like that is a TROLL. However, I think the unusual activity has made some of us a little quick to judgement in that regard. I don't think you are a TROLL.

No, a stock Mac is not setup for "lines led aft", which is the term for bringing the halyards back to the cockpit. But, on an M anyway, all you need to lead the main halyard aft is two single blocks, one at the mast base and one at the stanchion adjacent the mast base. You will likely also need a longer line and you will need some place to secure the line. There are lots of ways to secure the line. For example, you could secure the line at the aft cleat. So, its a rather cheap, simple, and completely reversible modification (my favorite kind).

Do you have a head sail (a jib, a genoa)? In not, then you could secure the line using the cam cleat for the jib sheet. If so, then there are other things you can do.



I think you'll find that most of us are more than willing to share our opinions and experience.

Thanks for explaining "TROLLS" to me I am definitely not trying to stir up any controversy!!
I am still a little bit confused as next the Starboard lewar winch I have the standard cleat. Next to this attached to the hatch roof sliding guide I have another cleat which the halyard has to be thread through. This is what I presumed the main sail halyard came back to.
Do you understand what I'm talking about???

David

Do you have an X or an M?

On an M, there is a black nylon (plastic) cleat " attached to the hatch roof sliding guide ", but that is intended to cleat off the dagger board line.

Also on an M, there is a cam cleat close to each winch. These were designed to secure the jib/genoa sheets.

On a stock M, there is simply no provision to bring the halyards aft of the mast. On an M, you are supposed to cleat the main halyard off on the black nylon (plastic) cleat on the starboard side of the mast.

David Hampson wrote: ... To raise the main sail on my 26x I have to stand on the cabin roof and pull on the halyard whilst my son feeds the sail into the mast chanel. I then tie the halyard of the best I can and return to the safety of the cockpit. I have a clamp device on the roof near the winch on the right hand side but I do not know what this is for.

David, regarding the factory's 26X arrangement for the main halyard:
You need to do as you described for hoisting the mainsail, 2 persons best.
There's a horn cleat about one meter high on the starboard side of the mast
for tying off the main halyard.

Regarding other 26X factory equipment:
You have a winch and cam-cleat (on each side of cabintop) for jib or genoa sheets (foresails).
You should also have a cleat on the starboard hatch rail for the centerboard line.
Both of these are "already assigned" so you will need to add a cleat for halyard-aft.

Regarding a halyard led aft:
You need a couple of blocks as described above, plus the additional cleat at the aft cabintop.
The benefit is that it can become a one-person job, from the cockpit (see next).

Regarding hoisting the mainsail, you have 3 options:
1) your current approach;
2) add a sail pre-feeder for about $60 described above (one person at mast);
3) modify the sail with "slugs" ... plastic sliders that are attached to the sail's luff, then inserted into the aft-track of the mast. They are trapped in the track with a stopper device, and remain there even when sail is dropped. Because they're slippery, the idea is that they will shoot up the track without attention at the mast. (One-person, from the cockpit).

I'd guess that most of us have added sail slugs to the mainsail - costs about $130 to have a US sailmaker make this sail modification.

I also had difficulty raising the mainsail from the cockpit on the stock 26M. After adding lugs and upgrading the blocks and other hardware guiding the halyard, I can raise the sail from the cockpit with no trouble, on the water or otherwise. In my case, the "swivel-mounted pulley" that leads the halyard up the mast was apparently of questionable quality, and it wouldn't swivel. In other words, it often became jammed in the wrong direction (in a lateral orientation instead of a vertical orientation as needed), and I had to go forward to release the halyard and pull it. The sail slugs also made a great difference.

So in my case at least, a little more money spent on the running rigging made a significant improvement. - The point is that maybe your problems aren't your fault.

Jim