Mast/sail storage

LETLMT

Member
I will be keeping my boat on a dolly by the water with a fitted cover over it. I plan on leaving the boom on the boat all rigged (or at least as much as it can be. I plan on taking the mast out and rolling the sail around it (without battens) and storing the whole thing on some hooks in my screened in porch so that it will be out of the elements.

Is there any reason not to do this?
 
They make slip covers for both mast sections with the sail wrapped around it. However, the sail is still out in the humidity and temperature extremes. And it could be put away wet.

It doesn't take that much longer to put on/remove the sail when rigging and derigging. I think it's better to remove the sail, let it dry completely, then store in a controller environment.
 
You can do this. I noticed different approaches when visiting international venues. Due to the weather, most Dutch sailors make sure that the sail is completely 'under cover': so there are 4 elements on the lazy bones: boom (rigged as far as possible), lower mast, upper mast and the sail, conveniently and loosely rolled on a piece of plastic drain pipe. Then all are covered with the top cover. Sailors from less-demanding climates keep the lower and upper mast as one, with the sail rolled around the mast. When covered up, the upper 4 or 5 ft of the mast + sail sticks out. Most sailors cover that part with the original sail cover (often a red 'tube').

When your boat is sheltered, I don't see why you would not go for the latter option. In any case, make sure that you undo the transom bung every time you store the boat! Even when you're back ashore for a lunch on a warm & sunny day. Added to that, make sure that the small vent hole in the front of the cockpit is always open and never restricted. When temps rise with both holes blocked, the air inside warms, the boat will expand and thus expanding the whole boat...

Menno
 
Yes you can. Take a piece of drainage pipe with a diameter of 4 inch or so. Make sure that the pipe is significantly longer than the foot of the sail (the length between leech and luff) Attach pieces of shock cord on both end with one end loose. You can now take the leech side, guide the shock cord through the eye of the sail and back to the end of the drainage pipe (attach it there with a not etc). Now you have a fixed point at one end. Put the pipe with the fixed sail on the ground (make sure only the end piece of the pipe!!) and keep the other end of the pipe and the luff side of the sail in your hand. Now you can start rolling towards the top. Job done.

Tip: I put a blockade inside the drainpipe, slightly deeper than the tiller & joystick's length and I added a lid on one side of the sail-tube. I can transport the tiller & joystick safely inside the sail-tube, without the risk of breaking the carbon pieces!
 
I've had bad experiences about rolling the sail around the mast (although it helps if you store it in the shade), so I have taken it off every time for many years. I roll the sail horizontally from the top down, folding it once at the top batten and leaving the battens in. It's pretty easy to do by yourself on top of the boat, and you don't even need any fancy tubes or pipes :D

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Interesting. Just to clarify, you roll the sail, with the battens in it, from the top down until you reach the top batten and then you fold the entire remaining sail over once at the width of the top batten, and then continue rolling the sail to the foot. Without exact measurements, you end up with a roll that is about 3 feet long and relatively stiff because of the battens. Does the rolled fold leave a crease?
 
You first fold the sail at (and along) the top batten and then roll down from that level. The end "product" is a little shorter than the length of the foot (which is 2740 mm) and not very stiff at all because the battens are so short. In fact, you can even fold that whole roll once, which makes it quite compact to transport and store.

The fold at the top batten does leave a crease with time, but it's not a big problem as the cloth is so soft. (I actually do the same with Lightning sails which are made of much stiffer material and it's still no problem.)

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Yes. Use the 4" PVC pipe. With the new MK II sail you can loosen the battens and leave them in the sail. Never loose a batten again!
 

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