Sail not raising high enough.

O

oobleck321

New Member
I am fairly new to sailing and will try my best to get out what I want.
I just got a new sunfish tonight and I'm having a tiny problem.

The line used to raise the sail, I pull until it stops, and when its stops theres about 7 inches to the top gromet and the boom is only a half an inch off the deck.

The only way I can get it all teh way to the top is getting on teh bow and holding it up which wont cut it on the water.

Any suggestions or methods I can try to get the sail raised all teh way to the top jsut from pulling the line all the way to the top

Thanks again!
 
Let's see now, you've got two sliding parts - the halyard rope moving through the eye at the top of the mast and the bronze gooseneck ring sliding up the mast. Can you tell which one is getting hung up?
 
Dan said:
Let's see now, you've got two sliding parts - the halyard rope moving through the eye at the top of the mast and the bronze gooseneck ring sliding up the mast. Can you tell which one is getting hung up?
Click to expand...

Posative that the halyard through the eye at the top of the mast is getting hung up.
I made sure the rope was lined up in teh grove of the mast cap but that isnt it
 
OK, what things could cause this problem - kinks in the line, worn line, line twisting around the mast from misalignment of spar, line too fat.

Is the line too fat? When the mast is down and in your lap is the line small enough to glide through the eye hole easily. There should be some daylight between the line and the eye. None of the line size recomendations matter at this point so long as what you have is small enough to thread through the eye hole without being pushed and pulled to feed it through.

Could the line be getting twisted in a kink either because it's a stiff line that doesn't straighten out easily, it's a double braid with a damaged inner core where there's a goofy narrow spot that forms a bump, it's a double braid with a funky outer sheath that's getting bunched up toward the end as you haul it through the eye.

Are you raising the sail by stepping the mast so the boom & spar is on the port (left) side - so the mast eye is aligned crossways port to starboard - so the halyard runs straight up the port side of the mast, through the mast eye, and straight down the mast's starbord side to the fairlead on the deck?
 
It may seem like the line is causing the problem but we've found it's the goose neck and the friction between the upper spar & mast that cause the binding.
Not to mention if the knot holding the halyard to the upper spar rotates on the spar it can also cause binding.
Lifting the goose neck while pulling with the other hand relieves the binding in both spots. You effectively lift the entire rig with the one hand while pulling.
Practice on the beach with the boat sitting so it's headed into the wind and some you'll find the pattern that will allow you to do it on the water as well.
 
It's going to be either one or the other - Process of elimination.

I'll cast another vote for that dryland rig-up practice. At home or at the beach.
 
Could be that the gooseneck is too far aft on the spar or the hayard is attached to the upper spar in the wrong place. By all means try various rigging options on the beach.
 
You may have checked this already but, have you tied the halyard to the top boom between the 7th and 8th (6th and 7th sail rings) grommet from the top of the sail?

Miamisail
 
halyard is tied in the correct place
and im just going to take soem dry runs on getting the sail up
maybe try some different things.
Im going out on thursday so I'll let everyone know how its goes..
 
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