Great post Chuck! It's taken me a while to learn the benefits of all this. I have a seasoned sailor friend that I like to bring sailing on my boat. He and his wife have been at it fever. I'll let them run the boat and then learn lessons by embarrassment! Whatever they complain about, I know I need to address. Lol!Having come to sailing much later in life, you just don't know what you don't know...I think I'm finally getting close on that list! DannyThanks, Danny -------- Original message --------From: CHARLES SCHEAFFER via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Date: 1/27/21 12:42 AM (GMT-05:00) To: "CNC boat owners, cnc-list" <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Cc: CHARLES SCHEAFFER <cscheaf...@comcast.net> Subject: Stus-List Maintenance that makes the boat work easier I'd like to share something most of you know but some may not and it's something I learned the hard way. Before hoisting sails for the first time this season, check that all your blocks and deck organizer sheaves turn properly and the sail tracks are clean. Use a finger to check that the sheave turns freely in each block. Things work easier if everything actually works, and if you do this the sails will thank you. Earlier I reported that I raise the mainsail on my 36 ft saiboat by hand. Well I couldn't do that when I first got my boat and needed to use a winch on halyards. My sailing friends told me that was normal and winches were always necessary to hoist such large sails. My mainsail weighs only 55 to 60 pounds, so I thought they might be wrong. Later, I spent some time checking all of the mast base halyard blocks and freeing a few frozen sheaves in the deck organizer, I found I could raise the mainsail by hand very easily. These sheaves are deceptive when frozen and allow a halyard to pass unimpeded initially when there is no load, but once the strain comes on, if they are frozen, the halyard becomes bar taught and the job requires a winch. I also learned from reading the winch catalog that the largest loads; the genoa and main halyards work best if reeved along the most direct path to the right side of a winch drum. So now I pick the clutch directly in line with the right side of the Starboard winch drum for my main halyard. All my winch drums turn clockwise. My genoa halyard is reeved through the clutch directly in line with the right side of the Port winch drum. I run the spinnaker halyards through the outermost clutches and all the other lines have lower loads so can be run as you like. And I label the clutches. I also hoist the Genoa by hand onto the furler and because I clean the foil grooves and spray the sail tabbing with MackLube, it goes up pretty easily. The lube also allows easy adjustment of the halyard tension when shaping the sail while sailing. I usually pick a lightwind day and extend the genoa halyard so I can wrap the tail round the winch drum and lead it to the bow where I feed the sail into the groove as I pull the halyard. I can clear any snags as they develop and the sail goes up happy and quick. So clean and lube your winches and the clutches too. Mark your halyards so you can repeat proper settings. These things make operating the boat so much easier. Sorry for the long rant. Chuck Scheaffer, Resolute 1989 C&C 34R, Pasadena Md
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