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Just bought a 1979 Islander Bahama 30 today

13K views 46 replies 13 participants last post by  pinayreefer 
#1 · (Edited)
I just bought a 1979 Islander Bahama 30 today.

Fully loaded -

roller furling
bimini
wheel steering
new sails
new rigging
new air conditioning/heat
new head
new water heater
2 new batteries.
fully restored inside and out.

Check out my photo gallery to see photos - you will be as shocked as I was!

( guess what I paid for it )...
 
#2 ·
SPCAlan1—

The photo posting is basically broken. Read the POST in my signature to learn a more reliable way to do it. As for a guess... $15,000 is my guess.
 
#4 ·
not yet.
 
#9 ·
Congrats... sounds like a good price... how did the survey go?
 
#13 ·
Hey guys.
I 'tried' to raise the main sail yesterday - very, very tight halyard.
New sail, new 'slugs', and new halyard makes for a tough pull ( even with winch ). After breakng it in, it got better, but never really got it 100% up. I may have to oil the pulleys on top of mast - yay me.

This boat has so many pulleys ( a lot more than my Catalina 25 had ). I wonder if I have it setup correctly.

There are 2 sets of 3 'roller pulleys' on each side of the mast that I can use to route the main halyard to the cockpit, not sure which to use, which may be causing the stiffness in raising the main.

I may have someone more experienced take a look at it.
 
#14 ·
Did you clean the mainsail track and lube it with SailKote? Also, one issue that can cause a problem is if the main halyard is spliced, since the splice may be too thick for the sheave and cause the halyard to bind up before you get to full hoist.

Photos will help.

BTW, the main halyard, usually on the starboard side of the mast, will generally come back to the cockpit on a set of deck organizers to starboard.
 
#17 ·
Did you run the halyards yourself? If so, it sounds like they're not running fair or free.
 
#20 ·
I had the same thing happen on our boat when I went up the stick to change the anchor light bulb. The sheaves were old and the one I was on essentially disintegrated with the weight (it was plastic). Lesson learned.

I replace both sheaves and everything was a lot easier to haul.
 
#19 ·
Unless the sheave is damaged or the slot was way oversized for the line and sheave, this is pretty unlikely.

Did you run the rigging or was it already run? If you ran it, you might have accidentally tangled or twisted two of the lines around each other, which would lead to a lot of friction for no visible reason.
 
#24 ·
Good question.
Survey came back good.

People have asked me, with all the new stuff ( sails,rigging,ac,roller. etc ). how could the guy make any money on this?

I do not know( nor care ). I triple checked the registration ( DNR and marina ) to verify the ownership before purchasing. You could probably part the boat out and make 10k, haha. ( unless of course, i can't raise the main sail ), haha,
 
#27 ·
Ok, yesterday was the shake down cruise.
Volvo cranked great. I am new to the 'drip' for the shaft, so I was walked through how to adjust it.

Issues:

Main halyard - would only go 3/4 way. it took 2 of us to muscle it to the top.
The previous owner went up ( on the spin halyard ) and lubed everything. He said everything looked good, but after lubing, still too tough to raise. No way I could raise the main by myself, even with winch. I will have to hire someone to replace/check out again.

The Harken roller furling - had to replace the feed line. Realized the front sail is a North Sail. Very clean and in great shape.

Good sail though, winds at 5mph and shifty. Good had a good time.
 
#28 ·
Are the halyards wire/rope or all rope? By your descriptions it sounds like a problem at the masthead.... If you try hoisting at the mast is it any better? (Eliminate any issues with the series of turning blocks on deck)

If there's no improvement then you may have crossed halyards, as already mentioned, but the other thing that comes to mind is that the bushing for the masthead sheave is gone, or it has a flat spot. Could be that once there's a significant load the pulley stops turning, lubed or not.

I think you need someone aloft as you test this, and try the halyard on its own with a strong retrieveing line, and put some strain on it as you 'hoist' to see if the masthead pulley turns at all times.
 
#29 ·
The main halyard and spin are all rope. The weird thing is the spin halyard is smooth as butter. The main very, very tough. Takes 2 people pulling to get just the halyard up ( no sail ). This is at the main.

We thought about the crossed halyards, but the ex-owner said everything looked ok when he went up yesterday.

I am going to contact a 'professional' to take a look at it. If I have to replace the sheave or pulley at the top, I am ok with that. Just want to get it fixed.
 
#31 · (Edited)
The main halyard and spin are all rope. The weird thing is the spin halyard is smooth as butter. The main very, very tough. Takes 2 people pulling to get just the halyard up ( no sail ). This is at the main.

We thought about the crossed halyards, but the ex-owner said everything looked ok when he went up yesterday.

I am going to contact a 'professional' to take a look at it. If I have to replace the sheave or pulley at the top, I am ok with that. Just want to get it fixed.
Crossed halyards wouldn't be visible at the masthead.. they might be intertwined with each other inside the mast, between the masthead and the exit slots. Often the drag can be felt on the other halyard as the lines rub on each other inside. Still, this shouldn't call for a winch to overcome the friction. I'm leaning towards a bad sheave.

Have you tried hoisting at the mast? That would eliminate issues with the rest of the system.

Also, I'd quite trying to force things.. NO WAY should it required two people pulling hard to pull an unloaded halyard up. You can't be doing things any good by forcing it through.

Another question.. is it equally difficult to pull the halyard back the other way???

EDIT: Sorry .. just noticed your next post.... now I'm wondering.... could this be as simple as you're trying to drag the reef lines through with high friction? The clew reefing lines need to be able to run absolutely free during the hoist. (I don't see/know which picture you're referring to) It sounds like your reef lines are holding things up. If they don't run free on their own, prefeed them out first. You'll see the reef lines tighten up and dragging on the leech if they are what's holding up your hoist.

Be good if that's all this was!
 
#30 ·
Check out the photo of the main sail and the 2 lines attached.

The highest line is a line that is attached to the end of the boom to the top of the mast. But the main sail is always on the inside of the line, therefore holding the sail.

The 2nd line ( lower ) is attached to a reef point down a pulley and cleats off on the boom. I have it pulled tight in the photo, and it is 'pinching' the main sail.

The main sail is not attached to the boom on the bottom - like my old Catalina, so there is no 'foot' on the sail attaching it to the boom at all.

What are these 2 lines used for? or did someone not know what they were doing?
 
#32 ·
I am hoisting at the mast. Just pulling straight down, so definitely not the other equipment.

Yes equally difficult up and down on an unloaded halyard.
The roller halyard is also the same way - I loosened up that line as well - no luck on getting the roller sail down.

Did you see my photo of the main?
 
#33 · (Edited)
OK - found the picture...



Your "strange line'' - blue- in the shot is your clew reefing line. That line needs to be free to run... if not, once that gets caught up and tensioned you will not be able to hoist.

Looks like a padeye/cam cleat at the forward end of the boom. Those are notoriously high drag - prefeed all the blue line through, leaving slack under the boom.

Also - check into joining photobucket, then you can post pics directly here as I have.

Another Edit... sorry, having a brain fart this morning.. that line must be free to run as I mentioned, but the fact that your halyard is tough to pull through without a sail still points to problems at the masthead or inside the mast...... and the fact that both halyards are stubborn is pointing even harder at them being twisted together internally...

and... assuming you did have the genoa unfurled when you tried to drop it.....
 
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