Freedom 25 wing mast

[alar]

Hi does anyone have experience with a freedom (1984) 25' with the wing mast? I have a terrible time raising and lowering the sail in the applied bolt rope rail on the mast. The pinch point is so narrow a slug will not work. I want to remove the plastic bolt rope rail and put a male or female track on the mast. Since the mast is wing shaped carbon fiber the spot to put a rail is very narrow. Does anybody have experience working on this system or changed one? I need an easier way to raise my sail. I have to winch it all the way up and pull and pull to get it down. Thanks all.

[Reefmagnet]

I know nothing about your particular setup, but one obvious question - have you lubricated the boltrope and rail with lubricant? Silicon spray can do wonders.

[alar]

Hi yes I sprayed silicon before the mast was stepped - the full length and multiple times at the base where I can reach when I was in the water.

[Reefmagnet]

On my boat, which has a boltrope on the genoa for the furler, I've find it's more effective to lubricate the boltrope of the sail as it is raised. The same applies to the slugs on my main. The mainsail on my boat was near impossible to raise after sitting on the hard for three years. It took about the first three raisings while spraying the slugs with silicon before it freed up entirely.

Other then that, maybe the boltrope diameter is mismatched to the rail?

[islandplanet]

Originally Posted by alar

Hi does anyone have experience with a freedom (1984) 25' with the wing mast? I have a terrible time raising and lowering the sail in the applied bolt rope rail on the mast. The pinch point is so narrow a slug will not work. I want to remove the plastic bolt rope rail and put a male or female track on the mast. Since the mast is wing shaped carbon fiber the spot to put a rail is very narrow. Does anybody have experience working on this system or changed one? I need an easier way to raise my sail. I have to winch it all the way up and pull and pull to get it down. Thanks all.

Alar,

I've owned a Freedom and we've built sails for them.
Couple of notes:
1. Try jumping halyard from mast. On my 39 I had it so I could hoist the sails just about all the way without a winch. Doing it from the cockpit adds a lot of friction.
2. Check the sheaves. Probably due for replacement.
3. Boltrope mains can be a pain. Chances are there is a slug that will work. Give me a rope diameter and and the width of the slot. Use a micrometer if you have one.
4. You can do Strong Track if you want a track system.

Where is the boat located?

[alar]

The boat is in casco bay Maine. I will check the blocks to be sure they run free. I believe that will not be the problem as the sail only drops about six inches when I release the halyard to bring it down, then I need to pull it down with much frustration all the rest of the way. The slug size is not the issue, the 'pinch' point is very tight. I got different slugs to try from sailrite, the one with smallest point is 2.6mm and it is too tight. I wondered about cutting the slugs down. The slug that was closest was plastic slug with small metal 'loop' to be webbed to the sail. I am concerned if I cut down that metal loop to fit the slide if may fail or bend from being too small. I also considered running a router down the bolt track, as it is plastic to open it up just a tiny bit. My concern there is failure of that track as it is 30 years old. As all of us I am trying not to spend an arm and leg on this but with taking friends sailing I need ease of use. Applying a strong track or a harken batt system is still not just putting it on as my mast is wing shaped and needs some altering to have a flat place to apply it. Thanks

[islandplanet]

Alar,

I know the shape of the mast but everything Tides Marine manufactures is extruded and they have done a lot of different boats over the years. You might want to email them and see if they have done an F-25 previously. What diameter slug do you need?

Is the sail original or a replacement? If it's a replacement, whoever built it may have used a less than optimal boltrope/tape arrangement. Some boats much larger than yours use a boltrope main. There's a tape called Super Glide that works well for those applications. I'm just wondering if this is more of a sail issue than a boat issue.

I'll find out if you can safely widen that gap. I know the right person to ask that question.

[Sagaz]

There is small piece of sail tack about a foot the top of the mast that is missing. Sometimes this causes the bolt rope to come out of the track when lowering the sail. The sail still can be lowered but not without a lot of effort.

Alar, I have a similar problem where there was a broken section of sail track near the top and a vertical split for about 2 fett. The bolt rope near the head sometimes got out of the tarck and it was nearly impossible to lower the main. I removed the sail track by sliding it off the mast track at the bottom (could find a way to remove from the top of the mast). I reversed the track such that the damaged section was at the bottom of the mast. Despite the application of Teflon lubricant and later dish soap, I am only able to slide the sail track about a third of the way along the mast track before being overcome by friction.


Additionally, a foot of the sail track broke off at the bottom several years ago and I have thought of replacing the sail track. Does anyone know the name of the product and whether it is still available? Or is there a better solution for a sail track on a wing mast?



Any information would be helpful as I want to sail this season!



Sagaz

[UNCIVILIZED]

Have you tried giving the track a good cleaning... several days in a row? Sometimes enough gunk can build up in luff grooves to cause real problems, & over time it can harden. Thus requiring a few cleanings in order to get it loose enough to come out.

Another diagnostic is to ask a sailmaker (or rigger) to load you a selection of luff tape samples, & check them in your spar to see what fits well. That way you'll know for certain.

I'd be real, real reluctant to alter the luff groove. Meaning widening/opening it up. Since it's a lot easier to remove material than it is to add it. And there are bolt rope tracks which can be added externally to spars with curved profiles, so that isn't ruled out either. Start doing some checking with spar manufacturers.

Also put this problem up on the Freedom sailboats forums, as well as any & all multihull forums you can find. As a lot more multi's have wing spars, including plenty of custom masts, as well as custom hardware. Many/much of it built by boat owners. And try www.BoatDesign.net/forums as well. That place is chock full of Pro's & DIY guys, so they're bound to have some ideas.


EDIT: Have you checked the halyard to ensure that it's running freely, particularly under load? Not just the sheave, but the halyard. As sometimes they'll move well when there's little load on them, but when tensioned their position within the spar will change, causing a lot of friction, & even sometimes damaging internal structures within the mast tube. And the other thing is to make sure that your halyard's not too big for your sheaves & other mast hardware. Since this too can result in a lot of extra friction, & quite a bit more when things are loaded vs. when they're not.

Also, if you can, post as much in the way of spec's on your hardware & rigging as you can, along with pics. It's a very helpful diagnostic tool.