[Rhodes22-list] David Keyes onIMF Furling Repair

[ed kroposki]

David:

	Congratulations!  Now go for a sail.

                                    Ed K


Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] IMF Furling Repair; Mainsail replacement;mast
lowered and raised twice out on the lake yesterday

Slim good list but I don't usually loosen any shrouds, I just add the 2 
extenders.  Also I usually start with a cold beer. :-)

Wally


>From: Steve Alm <salm at mn.rr.com>
>David,
>
>Glad your rig is back up and running.  As for raising and lowering the 
>mast,
>it sounds like you could use a little checklist to refer to as you go.  
>Take
>Stan's directions, paraphrase a bit and laminate it and keep it handy.  
>With
>a little more practice, you'll get it down, but some of those little 
>details
>like disconnecting the pop top slider, or the radio and light connections
>are easy to forget.  A checklist might be helpful.  Most important of all:
>when raising or lowering the mast, make sure nobody is in the cockpit or
>anywhere else where the mast could fall on them if something breaks.  Don't
>be in a hurry.  Take your time, follow the checklist, be methodical and 
>it's
>easy as pie!
>
>How about this--  Kind of off the top of my head--anybody chime in if I've
>missed something:
>
>LOWERING THE MAST:
>
>1.  Disconnect the back stay tensioning line
>2.  Disconnect the boom from the traveler
>3.  Remove the traveler bar
>4.  Hoist the boom up with the topping lift and cleat it off on the mast
>5.  Disconnect the pop top slider and close the hatch
>6.  Disconnect the radio and steaming light
>7.  Wrap up jib sheets and jib reefing line
>8.  Disconnect forward lower shrouds and add extensions
>9.  Loosen all other shroud turnbuckles
>10. Deploy and secure mast crutch
>11. Deploy and secure hoist crane
>12. Attach aft lower shrouds to crane
>12a Alternate: Attach line from crane to mast bail if you're thus equipped
>13. Tie hoist winch line to bow cleat with a bowline
>14. Snug the hoist to slack the bow stay
>15. Disconnect bow stay and drop clevis pin and cotter ring overboard  8-)
>16. Crank the hoist "down" giving the mast a little shove to get it started
>17. Check the shroud extensions as you lower to avoid entanglement.
>18. Tend the jib as you lower
>19. Lower the mast to the crutch
>20. Crack open a cold beer
>
>Do the reverse to raise the mast, but while raising, watch to see if any
>shrouds get tangled on anything as it goes up.  REMEMBER:  Nobody in the
>cockpit or anywhere else under the mast during these procedures.
>
>I'm leaving out some important details, like when a passing power boat hits
>you with its wake and your screwdriver rolls off the deck and falls in the
>drink.  Or that same power boat passes just as you disconnect the boom from
>the traveler and it swings around and whacks you in the noggin.  I'll leave
>the trouble shooting up to you!
>
>Note:  Some boats utilize a method of lowering the mast forward instead of
>aft.  If that's the case with Arrowhead, then...um...ignore this.  8-)
>
>Hope this helps.
>
>Slim
>S/V Fandango
>
>On 4/16/04 12:08 AM, "David Keyes" <dkeyes at houston.rr.com> wrote:
>
> > Stan's mast-hoist system is great.  I am 64, worked single-handed
> > yesterday--no one around to help.  I spent all day today taking down the

>mast
> > (twice) at the dock, in howling winds, replacing the mainsail, and 
>fixing the
> > IMF.  No serious problems and nothing dropped overboard.
> >
> > Last fall, my mainsail jammed in the out position for a week.  The sheet

>metal
> > screw holding the upper bearing had backed out, jamming against the 
>inside of
> > the mast at the top.  I used cords to tie the sail against the mast 
>while I
> > was away for a week, but they came loose in windy weather, causing the 
>sail to
> > beat against the spreaders and sustain sail damage.  The slapping around

>also
> > caused the screw to fall out, thus again permitting the sail to be 
>furled back
> > in and out.  After a few months of raising and lowering the boom 
>slider/IMF
> > tube, the upper bearing (now missing its set screw) came off the top of 
>the
> > tube and fell part way down the mast just inside the slot, preventing 
>the sail
> > from being unfurled past that point.  Time to fix everything and replace

>the
> > sail--all with great help by email from Stan, as well as earlier helpful

>input
> > from the R22 list.  I had never taken the mast down before, since my 
>boat
> > stays in the water full time and I don't own a trailor.  Based on advice

>from
> > the R22 list, I decided to do the work without taking the boat out of 
>the
> > water.
> >
> > Following Stan's advice, I removed the boom prior to lowering the 
>mast--this
> > removed some of the bulk from the IMF repair job that I had to do (which
> > involved sliding the IMF tube out the bottom of the mast), although boom
> > removal wasn't necessary.  The IMF upper bearing did have a hole, but no

>screw
> > was in sight.  I drilled a new hole in the tube off to the side of the 
>old
> > one, and countersunk a 1-inch stainless #6 sheet metal screw.  I 
>replaced the
> > mainsail with the one that Stan sent me--the new style with the vertical
> > battens.
> >
> > All is working fine now, but I will need to replace the 4" carriage bolt

>at
> > the mast step (the last half inch and the wing nut were stripped and 
>sheared
> > off).  Temporarily, the mast is sitting OK for the time being with no 
>wing
> > nut.  Also, I bent the spring pin in the pop-top block slider.  I tried 
>to
> > straighten it out, but it does't work as well as it should.  Stan will 
>send me
> > the bolt and a replacement pop-top slider pin which can be replaced on 
>the
> > next mast-lowering.  I made a not very important gouge in the pop top 
>cover
> > with the now-bent pin.  This happened because the second time I lowered 
>the
> > past I had forgotten to slide up the pop-top block (but the slider was
> > detached from the pop top cover).
> >
> > Brief diary of the day:  I worked at the dock, in about 20 feet of 
>water.  I
> > used the sailboat on the opposite side of the dock, to my bow, as a 
>"table" to
> > hold the IMF tube as it came out.  I was pleasantly surprised that the 
>IMF
> > tube is so rigid that I was able to carry it off the dock and up on the 
>grass
> > to work on it, without any excess bending.  The weather was bright 
>sunshine,
> > with low winds increasing to howling winds during the mast lowering and
> > raising.  Drinking lots of water still left me six pounds lighter at the

>end
> > of the day--194 down to 188.
> >
> > I spent the morning carefully going through instructions and lowering 
>the mast
> > and removing the IMF tube.  In early afternoon I wasted 45 minutes 
>looking for
> > a 1-1/4" #6 sheet metal screw, but it turned out that the 1" I already 
>had
> > worked.  It is necessary to countersink the screw head into the bearing 
>so
> > that it does not bind inside the mast.  By 4 p.m., I had the mast back 
>up, the
> > IMF repaired, no damage or incidents, and everything perfect.  My 7/64 
>drill
> > bit (used to drill the hole in the IMF tube for the self-tapping sheet 
>metal
> > screw) was too dull, and it took several attempted holes and lots of 
>elbow
> > grease.   Next time I will start out with a high-quality new drill bit 
>for
> > hard metal.   The only other glitch on my lowering of the mast had been 
>to
> > forget to unplug the radio and light plugs at the foot of the mast--the 
>wires
> > certainly got a tugging before I noticed it when the mast was almost all

>the
> > way down.  Amazing that the wires didn't pull out of their plugs.
> >
> > So, at 4 p.m. I had removed the mast hoist and was finished except to 
>restore
> > the boom and for trying the IMF.  The IMF was jammed.  I seemed to have 
>lost
> > an extra wrap that I needed and also the sail seemed wedged, with the 
>new
> > vertical battens taking extra space in the wrapped sail.  (Stan 
>subsequently
> > advised me not to retract the self-cover area, containing the battens.)

>I was
> > no longer confident that I had wrapped the sail and the IMF furling line
> > correctly.
> >
> > So . . . from 4 to 6:30 I repeated the job except for the now-fixed 
>bearing--I
> > lowered the mast and removed the IMF tube again and took the tube and 
>sail
> > back up on the grass and started again.  I lowered the mast from memory 
>and
> > while tired--no instructions--a mistake since I forgot this time to 
>slide the
> > boom block and pop-top block to the high positions, so that I heard a 
>crunch
> > of the pop-top block into the pop-top cover.  I also seemed to have 
>stripped
> > some of the threads on the mast-step bolt, because the wing nut could 
>not be
> > removed, and I finally sheared off the end.
> >
> > However, by 6:15, when I got back to where I had been at 4 p.m., 
>everything
> > worked.  I don't know if I had done anything wrong on the first IMF 
>furling
> > installation or not.  So I replaced the boom.  I had to pull and work
> > carefully to get the sail out of the slot the first time, past the 
>vertical
> > battens, but then it expanded and retracted easily.
> >
> > I noted that the luff line of the new sail, in the IMF tube slot, is 
>about
> > 1-1/2" longer than the old one.  I was going to drill new holes for the 
>upper
> > and lower brackets where the sail loops attach, so as to extend them to 
>their
> > full length.  But it was so difficult to drill the one hole for the IMF
> > bearing that I did not do this.
> >
> > Stan's mast-hoist instructions talk about walking the genoa back to the 
>mast.
> > By email he told me not to do this if it is a CDI or other third-party
> > installation--I have the 175% genoa with the CDI furler.  I will 
>remember next
> > time the importance of sliding up the boom and pop-top blocks to their 
>high
> > set points; I had focused on the most important step of removing the pin
> > connecting the pop-top cover to the mast.  I will also remember the 
>obvious
> > point, if one notices or thinks about it, that the electrical lines 
>should be
> > unplugged.
> >
> > One safety point that almost caught me.  At one point I got my thumb up 
>into
> > the rope coil around the crane winch.  Not a good idea.  The beginnings 
>of
> > what in a split second more would have been torture chamber time 
>prompted me
> > to remove my thumb faster than the speed of light.  It didn't even hurt 
>or
> > cause a mark on my thumb--the story would have been different if I 
>hadn't
> > stopped winding and got my hand out of the way in the nick of time.  As 
>Stan
> > warns in his instructions, keep clear and realize that there are a lot 
>of
> > mechanical forces, and protect the boat by stoppiong instantly if 
>anything is
> > going wrong.  I found Stan's instructions very helpful to watch all the 
>stays
> > and keep everything clear and free from binding and be ready to stop
> > immediately.  At one point a found a lower shroud caught between the 
>edge of a
> > porthole and the cabin--I saw this before ever starting to raise the 
>mast.
> >
> > Two times does not make me an expert, and obviously no where near the
> > experience of those who trailer their boats.  But if anyone on the list 
>thinks
> > that my day of doing all this might have given me some useful experience
> > relating to tasks that someone else on the list maybe hasn't done 
>before, I
> > will be glad to try to answer questions about how I did some of this 
>work,
> > what I thought was hard and what was easy, and what I might do 
>differently
> > next time.  Overall, the day was a success.
> >
> > David Keyes
> > S/V Arrowhead
> > Lake Travis
> > Austin, Texas