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

[Steve Alm]

Wally,
The reason I loosen the other shrouds--specifically the uppers, is because
it makes it a bit easier to disconnect the mast from the tabernacle by
taking off a little tension.  It's even more helpful when doing the reverse.
Slim

On 4/16/04 7:22 AM, "Wally Buck" <tnrhodey at hotmail.com> wrote:

> 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>
>> Reply-To: The Rhodes 22 mail list <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>> To: Rhodes <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] IMF Furling Repair; Mainsail replacement;mast
>> lowered and raised twice out on the lake yesterday
>> Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2004 04:31:12 -0500
>> 
>> 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
>>> __________________________________________________
>>> Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
>> 
>> __________________________________________________
>> Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
> 
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