[Rhodes22-list] Replacing IMF Mainsail

[Robert Quinn]

David:  Rummy's answer says it all.  I dropped my mast and removed my main
sail several times over the years while the boat was in the water.  Just be
sure that you have enough room in front of the boat to slide out a twenty
something foot pole without having to bend it in any way. Take your time and
as another mentioned be sure to disconnect the pop top slider before you
drop the mast.  It leave a nasty gouge in the pop top slider if you do not.

Bob on the "NoKaOi"


----- Original Message -----
From: "David Keyes" <dkeyes at houston.rr.com>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2003 1:11 AM
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Replacing IMF Mainsail


Does anybody know what is involved in buying and replacing the R22 mainsail?
It has the inner-mast furling system.  (Everything is going to me new for
me, since I don't have a trailer, do keep my boat in the water, and have
never taken the mast down--although I have Stan's crane system and the
instruction book.)

My question is the one above. The rest is just my story leading up to my
queston.

My IMF sail got stuck for some unknown reason in the fully out position.
After several hours of trying to retract the sail--unsuccessful even with
the help of two other sailboat owners, as all of us tinkered and struggled
together, I wrapped it back and forth in front of the mast for a week and
secured it (not well as it turned out) as high up as I could reach with
bungee cords.  During the week, the wind picked up and caused the sail to
beat against the spreaders.  I have a horizontal line at the height of the
spreaders that is frayed all the way along that line from the roach of the
sail in about 2/3 of the way to the mast.  Along the frayed area there are
about 7 holes ranging from the size of a dime to a quarter, along with more
beebe sized holes.  I could remove the sail and attempt a long patch repair,
but after I go to the trouble to get the mast down--I will need to borrow a
trailer from someone at the marina--my boat has never been out of the water
except to be hauled out by a boatyard for bottom paint.  In lowering the
mast, I will have to watch out for, among other things, my radio cable and
antenna at the mast top, and the CDI furling system on the 175 genoa.

I can sail with my main as it is now, but it's got to be only a matter of
time and maybe on a windy day when the sail rips.

Incidentally, when I returned to the boat after the week away, the sail
retracted easily.  Go figure.   The obvious things I had checked the week
before, such as that the blue outhaul line was free, and then I detached the
clew shackle so as to completely free the sail, and it still wouldn't
retract.  I removed the collar doughnuts and sliding block where the boom
meets the mast, and I backed out screws to make sure none were binding
anything, but the inner tube was mechanically caught on something.  It
didn't appear to be a tought line or a binding at the top of the mast
because the bottom was absolutely frozen.  Then, as I said, the next week
with the sail worse for the wear, the sail retracted as easily as when new.

David Keyes
Lake Travis, TX
S/V Arrowhead
__________________________________________________
Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list