Got it wet!

[leob1]

After letting it dry, and lots of patching, sanding, filling, sanding, priming and painting, I finally got my SUper Porpoise in the water. If you search this forum, mine was the one I got for free because it had some holes in it,a and it was water logged. There was very little wind when I took it out, but it floated and sailed.

I do have a problem getting the sail up, the bronze ring that attaches the lower boom to the mast doesn't slide at all when I got to raise the sail. If fact, it catches and hold fast. To raise the sail I have to pull the uphaul, and lift the boom, then tie it off. It's a 2 1/2 hand job.
Is there something I can do to make it slide easier along the mast?
Thanks

 

[Bman]

mine catches as well. I keep the halyard in my right hand and push up on the "ring" with my left to help with the weight distribution.

 

[L&VW]

In the past, I'd attached three small cable-ties to the Sunfish gooseneck opposite the spar, and that helped. You can also put the boom on your shoulder to take some of the weight off of lifting. When at a dock, I ran the halyard under the boom, which also helped (That is, when I was located on the gooseneck side of the boom).

Just this week, I used the only spray lubricant I had handy—a thin white grease—lithium? The sail went up like a shot!

 

[signal charlie]

Pull halyard til gaff is up and gooseneck starts to bind, then lift boom by the gooseneck while pulling halyard the rest of the way.

Congrats on getting the boat wet!

kent