Posted by Bay Skipper (bayskipper@…>)
Raising the main on my 1987 F-30 had become an almost impossible chore. About 3/4 the way up, the halyard was very tight and it would actually start squeeking when I would wench the rest of the way up. It put a tremendous force on the halyard. I also noticed that the main would not drop to the boom like it used to. I’d have to get on deck and tug the main down manually. It was no fun to raise and lower the main, and at times I thought the halyard might actually snap.
I was looking into a track system to make it easier to raise and lower the main and got quotes on having one installed.
I moved the boat last year by truck and was checking the mast the wiring and masthead before restepping. I noticed that the sheave at the top of the mast was frozen, It would not budge. I took the bolt out and tried to remove it and found it also to be welded by corrosion to the masthead. I could not remove it with the tools I had onhand, so I hired a rigger who was onsite to help me. It took him a half an hour to break the sheave loose from the masthead. It was frozen in there very tightly.
Once removed, he had to soak the sheave in a solution for another half an hour before he could break it open to clean it out. He washed all the bearings (which were nylon), lubricated it and reinstalled it. At this point it spun freely on the masthead, and afterwards the main went up easily as it used to. Obviously, with the sheave frozen, a track system would not have helped the problem. The sheave must, of course, spin freely.
As I recall there was not much clearance at the masthead to increase the diameter of the sheave. I would have felt more comfortable about the procedure had we replaced the sheave with a new one, but at the time that option was not available to me.
On my masthead I would like to note that there are dissimilar metals that come in contact with one another. The sheave was one metal, the mathead was aluminum, and the bolt was stainless, so doubtless in time corrosion is inevitable in a salt water environment.
This is a difficult part to get to with the mast up. I can not imagine trying to remove the sheave on my masthead (frozen the way it was) from a bosun’s chair. It required soaking the area with liquid wrench and a prybar to finally break it loose.
Removing the masthead cap was a breeze.
jerry_magic1 <jerry_magic1@…> wrote:
Somebody posted comments some time ago, either on this board or on the old Freedom board, that I can not find now. Some of the discussion involved replacement of the main halyard sheave at the top of the mast with one of larger diameter. Purpose was to further reduce halyard friction when raising and dousing the main sail.I’d like to know if that was done on a carbon fiber mast. If so, how much trouble and what was involved in removing the masthead cap to get at the sheave? Also, what diameter was the replacement sheave and which Freedom model boat was it?I’ll be pulling the mast next month on my F36 to completely rewire it and I’m thinking of installing tricolor running lights. Removing the masthead cap will make the work easier if it is not too difficult to get the cap off.
Yahoo! Groups Links
To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freedomyachts2003/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:freedomyachts2003-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it!