First 26 improvements and repairs.

[sailingdog]

Look HERE.

Originally Posted by arf145

Hopefully this isn't a hijack, but do you have any photos of your two-line reefing system, Dog? I've got the Isomat in-boom single-line reefing that Cerveza shows, and there is a hell of a lot of friction in there. I need to open up the boom and see what's up--but I'm also thinking about changing the configuration.

[Faster]

Originally Posted by Cerveza

The first time I needed to reef my mainsail I discovered it was not possible to do so. There was something blocking the slides in the mast from going all the way down, so I was unable to connect the reef point in the sail to the hook. Upon closer inspection I found a cotter pin blocking the slides, and apparently something is missing from the mast below that point. The manufacturer of the mast is Z-spar. Any ideas as to what is missing from the mast?

That cotter pin is to prevent your slugs from slipping out of the track when you drop the sail. The easiest thing to do is pull the pin to let the first slug or two out as you reef,then replace the pin. This will allow the tack reef point to reach the gooseneck hook. Upon rehoisting your main, remove the pin, reinsert the slugs and replace it again. A small keeper line on the cotter pin will prevent your dropping it and losing it.

As mentioned a set of plates to close the feed slot can be made up, this has the added advantage of allowing the slugs to drop further down the mast track, possibly permitting the tack to reach the reef hook, and making the furled stacked mainsail lower to the deck and the sail cover more compact. On a 26 footer you probably don't have any trouble reaching the headboard, but on larger boats this can be an issue. The disadvantage of the plates is it makes removing the sail a little more difficult.

On some boats, however, the stacked slugs in the track will still prevent getting the reef tack cringle low enough - esp on 2nd and 3rd reefs. Fixed plates add to the difficulty of putting these reefs in, and then other methods (such as "jacklines") need to be undertaken.

[tonybinTX]

I'm guessing there's no manufactured plates to close up that slot? Fab is necessary. Does anyone have a photo of these plates for reference?

[tommays]

[Cerveza]

Thanks a lot for the inputs! I'm suprised this hasn't got a more thought thru approach to begin with. I assumed something was missing because of the hole in the slot, it just didn't look complete..

Oh well...

[jjablonowski]

Catalina Direct sells a $40 kit that fills in the wider mainsail-entry slots in the mast, allowing the main to fall completely down to the boom when reefing. I, for one, like the jackline solution that merely permits enough slack in the dropped luff to cinch down a reef.

[arf145]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Look HERE.

Thanks. I'll stew on that.

[Cerveza]

I cleaned out the water seperator in the fuel system a couple of days ago. It looks like that wasn't a big priority for the previous owner.. It's idiotic placement made it impossible to remove it without a spilling fuel in the cabin. Moving it is added to the "to-do" list...


Removing a broken valve was also a problem, guess it was mounted before the wall was put in.. I had to make the hole in the wall to allow the valve to rotate, to unscrew it from it's mounting....

[sailingdog]

Lovely craftsmanship there.. obviously not too well thought out to start with... hope you're planning on changing the setup to make maintenance a bit easier, and less destructive.

[Cerveza]

I intend to make it look good again, but right now the priority was to have the valve replaced.. It's just so annoying when these kind of stupid problems reveal themselves..