Mahe 36: Rig and Sails

[IrieCat]

I have been sitting in West End Grand Bahama waiting for my mom to fly in so we can proceed. While here the wind has been 20-30knts. My question is when I get 20+ knts the mast starts vibrating. It has always happened but I don't know if it is normal. Thanks for any feedback on this.

[Cotemar]

Lonnie,
Next time you get the vibration. Try slaking up on the Main Sheet or the Topping Lift and see if the vibration goes away. I had the same issue on another model boat but the vibration went away when I did that.
Mark

[IrieCat]

Mark, I love your picture. Don't know if I should laugh though. I am very new to sailing but did know what those "ropes" were. Thanks! Any luck on your new boat?
good luck
Lonnie

[Scott730]

Lonnie
I use bungie cords from the end of the boom down to the loops on the life lines on each side, this helps to dampen the movement of the boom when you slacken the main sheet. Watch that, if you let up on the topping lift, that you don't rub the top of your bimini with the main sheet loop guides on the bottom of the mast.
Hope to see you soon in the Abacos.

Scott

[Scott730]

Sorry, I should have said "the main sheet guides on the bottom of the boom"

[jase]

Martin,
have there been any difficulties with setting up the double line reefing? I want to do the same and just ordered 3 Spinlock XTS. For continous furling you might have a look at the Bartels (German Brand) rollers, which costed around 600€ and work well.
Can you tell about the Jib/Gennaker sheeting?
My complaints about the boat could be also:
Water pressure alternates extremely, and temperature change is dangerous while showering - I added an air balloon. ( FP does not ant to take care of that)
Temperature is far to high - I will try out the advices from earlier in this forum ( FP? - see above)
One issue I got stuck and maybee somebody from the forum could help: I would like to use the data from the Furuno system for my Laptop with Fugawi and vice versa. We have identified the NMEA sockets in the steering computer, but are a little confused. ( RS 422 vs RS 232?).
And to Scott: Although we have not had any contact yet, I am interested in some photos of the watermaker installation also - that would be very nice!
Jan

[MKB53]

Jase - Sorry about the delay in responding. I have attached a couple of photos. One shows the gennaker sheeting port at the winch. This has 2 Lewmar 72mm jamming footblocks which are designed to stack and obviously can be set to jam left and right. The foot blocks are in the position the stand up block was and this has been moved a little forward. The stbd sheet is routed from the original stbd stand up block via a Spinlock stanchion block on the pushpit. Interestingly you could probably rig a continuous sheet but I would feel very nervous not being able to let the sheet fly in an emergency.

[MKB53]

Also responding to earlier discussion.

These photos show the twin line reefing setup. I have added 2 x XAS (Clew reefing lines) and 2 x XTS clutches (Tack reefing lines)
The clew lines are not changed from the original set up but merely routed to the clutch. I did swap the position on the mast collar though and used a double block
The Tack lines are tied off on the port mast saddles (that the standard reefing straps are normally looped through). They are then fed through the reefing eye and down through a shackle on the starbord saddle to blocks on the mast collar and then back to the clutches. This was the "minimum impact" option but seems to work well. I will fine tune. eg: determine whether it needs to be more sophisticated than just routing through a shackle.

[jase]

MKB53, Martin?,
thankyou very much for the pictures!
For the Gennaker I use the stand up blocks right now. We mounted an Andersen winch. And , as you I am always a little anxious to keep all lines clear - just in case.
About the reefing: How do you use the winches? Right position for the Main halyard, left for the reefing lines? ( if Genoa is rolled away) I am asking because of the angle from the outer clutches, if used at the inner winch.
I will be at the boat in two weeks and apply the reefing. Though it is deepest winter here it will be spring by then in the Med.

[MKB53]

Hi Jase
My gennaker set up was factory supplied so I have the Harken 36T winch supplied by FP.

There is not much space in the hard point to port of the original clutches so unless you want to reinforce the sandwich area it is only practical to add the clutches on both sides. I don't think this layout is an issue.

The Spinlock clutches claim that the sheet can lead at an angle of up to 30 deg to a winch without rope damage. None of the angles are anywhere near 30 to teh starboard winch but nevertheless I have left the Mainsheet (most used) in it's original clutch which is almost direct. likewise the main halyard is also in the original clutch as 2nd most used and likely to have the most tension applied.

You can reef without using the foresail winch.
1: Ease halyard and cleat - I have read in threads on single line reefing that it is a good idea to mark the halyard so you can let the right amount out.
2: Take up on tack line - either by hand or remove the cleated halyard and use the stbd winch if you need it. If you are heading into the wind it should able to be done by hand. If you think about it the standard straps are fed by hand with the sail loose.
3: tension halyard and cleat
4: Take up on clew line on stbd winch and cleat.. This is a reasonable angle and these lines are not used that frequently and are typically set and not adjusted much.
5: Mainsheet back to stbd winch.

You would be able to use the inner winch for the tack lines (inner clutches) if you wanted to but I think the crossover on the outer (Clew) clutch would be too great.

With the Mainsheet in the middle clutch bank there is a crossover between the mainsheet and the tack lines and a risk of chafing if the tack line is too high when tight. This is OK as set up but there there is some room to play with the position of the blocks on the mast collar to optimise this. Worst case would be a fairlead of some sort to seperate them. I could not get rid of the crossover and maintain a direct line to the winch for the mainsheet without major surgery and I am trying to keep it low impact.

Cheers

[Jef & Marin, Netherlands]

A suggestion for those of you having a Mahe with a winch on the mast: Inspect it!
Our spinnaker winch is mounted on an aluminium support which is rivited to the mast. The bronze winch is bolted to the aluminium support with stainless steel bolts M6.
I removed the winch for greasing. The bolts were very tight. After removing the nuts I still had to use an impact driver to get them out.
There was extreme oxydation between the winch and the aluminium support. Also the bolts were solid in aluminium oxyde. There is serious pitting in the surface of the aluminium support. Gap corrosion between the aluminium and the bronze.
And our boat has been in the water for half a year....
I will mount a non-conducting gasket between the aluminium support and the winch, e.g. a one mm nylon or plastic sheet. And kit it on both sides with silicone kit. I am considering whether it is necessary to electrically isolate the 6 mm bolts from the aluminium support. Any ideas?

My suggestion is of course for the others to do the same inspection; I am glad I did not wait a year; the corrosion would have been worse.

There are maybe not so may spi's and gennakers out there; we had only the second spifurl, after Kev & Jo from Invincible. See attached picture!
Probably there are some more gennakers.
Kind regards,
Jef

[kev&jo]

Hi Jef & Marin,

Yes we have had the same problem, I serviced all the winches and had a problem taking that one off the mast bracket.

Congratulations to Mark, bet you cant wait...!

[Cotemar]

Hi Jef & Marin,

For any dissimilar metal bedding I use a product called Tef-Gel www.tefgel.com

The function of Tef-Gel in eliminating dissimilar metal corrosion is the elimination of electrolytes from entering the interface of the metallic surfaces. Tef-Gel paste contains 40% PTFE powder and 0% volatile solvents, no silicones or petroleum solvents to evaporate, which would leave voids for electrolytes to be drawn into creating a galvanic cell. When both surfaces are coated and mated with Tef-Gel there are no voids for electrolytes (saltwater) to be drawn in by capillary action over extended periods of time.

Mark

[MKB53]

I had the same problem. I rebedded it with silicone as I did not have any alternatives at the time but plan to remove it soon and redo. I have seen Zinc Chromate paste recommended for all applications with dissimilar metals.

[DtM]

Unless I am very much mistaken, all Mahe's have a winch on the mast.

So this warning aplies to each and every owner.

I had planned to look at this winch next month but it has just become an Easter job !!!

I recently serviced the additional sheet winch that is provided for the gennaker/spifurl. Why it is a 32 instead of a 40 (as the rest of the winches are) I do not know. It was very dry and stiff. it now works like a charm.