I also hoist the main by hand on my 36 footer with a 43 foot hoist. I setup the boat using autopilot so she's pointed into the wind, slow the throttle, take off the sailties, ease the mainsheet a little, and hoist the sail up by hand from the cockpit, pulling the halyard through a closed clutch on the cabintop. It goes up best if you do it fast. I have to be careful with the wind angle since I have checkstays that can catch the sail, and sometimes I ease them off for the hoist, but only use the winch to get the final tension. I'm not bragging, but I'm 68 and found this just works best. I watch the head of the sail go up past the checkstays and sometimes, in light winds, don't even use the winch as I see a crease start behind the mast and need to ease the halyard little. To make it easier, I mark the halyard with a sharpie as reference and lubricate the mast track and plastic slides with McLube a few times each season. Also be sure that all the sheaves in the system are free turning and lubricated and the line is lead smoothly and fair.
My boat has four self tailing winches and I miss them when I sail on other boats, so well worth the trouble to upgrade. My cabintop winches are used for all halyards and also used for outhaul, cunningham, reefing lines, and the checkstays, so they are worth upgrading to self tailers. Chuck S > On 03/12/2023 9:25 AM Dennis C. via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> > wrote: > > > Ditto. I hoist Touche's main by hand from the cockpit then finish with a > cabin top winch. The halyard runs through a Lewmar rope clutch which is > closed during the hoist. > -- > Dennis C. > Touche' 35-1 #83 > Mandeville, LA > > On Sat, Mar 11, 2023 at 4:41 PM Dave S via CnC-List > <cnc-list@cnc-list.com mailto:cnc-list@cnc-list.com > wrote: > > > > David - I sail windstar singlehanded a lot, and don’t > have a self tailing halyard winch. Just use a line clutch. I raise it by > hand, and finish with the winch, tailing it myself. I have a bank of > clutches on either side of the cabin top and these tail halyards, reefing > lines, my topping lift, etc. > > Easy. > > > > Dave > > Windstar 33-2 > > > > > > > > > > > Please show your appreciation for this list and the Photo Album site and > help me pay the associated bills. Make a contribution at: > https://www.paypal.me/stumurray > Thanks for your help. > Stu >
Please show your appreciation for this list and the Photo Album site and help me pay the associated bills. Make a contribution at: https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks for your help. Stu
